Nissan’s former CEO could soon be homeless following a ruling from a Lebanese court.
According to The Japan Times, a judge in Lebanon has made the decision to evict Carlos Ghosn from his million-dollar home in the affluent suburb of Ashrafieh in Beirut.
The eviction comes after Phoinos Investment – reportedly registered owners of the property – filed legal action in 2019 accusing Mr Ghosn of “trespassing on private property and living in the home without legal basis,” a judicial official told The Japan Times.
The property is reportedly valued at around A$29.53 million.
According to the news outlet, the decision – handed down on October 16 – claims Mr Ghosn and his wife must “vacate the property… within a month.”
The Japan Times reports court documents claim in Mr Ghosn’s defence “the property was purchased … for his residence, and there is a signed agreement with Nissan that grants him the right to reside” at the home.
Mr Ghosn reportedly occupied the property “according to a contractual relationship linking … Ghosn and Nissan”.
However, The Japan Times reports the court has found that as Nissan and Ghosn went their separate ways, this invalidates “the legal basis” of this occupancy in the property.
Mr Ghosn has reportedly appealed the court’s decision. A spokesperson for the former CEO has released a statement saying certain documents which were unable to be supplied prior to the court hearings could now support Mr Ghosn’s appeal.
“He will now be able to present all the documents held up in Japan that he was unable to secure on time,” a representative said in the statement.
Carlos Ghosn was dramatically arrested in November 2018 after arriving in Tokyo for a Nissan board meeting. He was charged with under-reporting his pay, temporarily transferring investment losses to Nissan, and a shady deal with a Middle Eastern importer that reportedly netted him US$5 million ($6.9 million).
He fled home detention at the end of 2019 and was smuggled aboard a private jet bound for Turkey in an instrument case. He then transferred to a plane headed for Beirut, Lebanon, where he resides to this day.
Born in Brazil to Lebanese parents, Ghosn holds citizenship in both of these countries, as well as France, where he studied and began his automotive career.
As there’s no extradition treaty between Lebanon and Japan, it’s likely Mr Ghosn will remain at large but trapped within his ancestral homeland.
In June 2023, Ghosn filed a lawsuit in Lebanon seeking US$588 million ($865 million) in lost earnings and costs, and US$500 million ($735 million) in punitive damages.
In the lawsuit Mr Ghosn alleges “the serious and sensitive accusations” made against the former CEO “will linger in people’s minds for years”. As a result he “will suffer from them for the remainder of his life, as they have persistent and lingering impacts, even if based on mere suspicion”.
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