Japan is hosting a G20 summit of world leaders later this month.
The wife of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, Carole, is asking President Donald Trump to raise her husband’s case with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “I’d like President Trump to speak to Prime Minister Abe about fair conditions, fair trial conditions and let me speak to my husband and also to respect this presumption of innocence until proven guilty,” she told BBC News.
Carole Ghosn said she has not spoken to her husband since he was last arrested on April 4. Although Japanese authorities released Carlos Ghosn on bail three weeks later, she is not allowed to see him. “They told him one of the bail conditions, the restrictions, is he isn’t allowed to speak to me or talk to me, which I find inhumane,” she said. “The lawyers told me that anything I say could hurt him in the trial, so to keep my mouth shut. But I want my husband back.” She did not address her husband’s specific charges in detail during the BBC interview, on legal advice.
Carlos Ghosn’s legal troubles continue
Ghosn’s fall from grace started in November 2018, when he was arrested for alleged acts of financial misconduct during his years as Nissan’s chairman. He also helmed Nissan’s alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi. Both companies fired him after his initial arrest, and Ghosn was ejected from the alliance in March.
Authorities held the deposed executive for nearly three months before releasing him. However, they arrested him again in April on separate misconduct charges in Japan, before he made bail later that month.
Throughout that time, Carole Ghosn has decried her husband’s treatment and raised concerns over his health. She said her husband’s alleged conduct “could have been dealt with internally within the company”. Like her husband, she has stated this whole ordeal was a conspiracy to get rid of him, and prevent Renault’s plan to buy Nissan.
At time of writing, President Trump has not responded to Carole Ghosn’s request.
