世界标准时间 2023 年 6 月 21 日 16:16

作者：古斯塔沃·恩里克·鲁福

卡洛斯·戈恩不能离开黎巴嫩，因为日本向国际刑警组织发出红色通缉令，如果他离开黎巴嫩，将立即逮捕他。他声称自己是公司阴谋的受害者，他的案件事实进一步证实了这一阴谋。这导致他为这些损失寻求一种奇怪的救济：他正在黎巴嫩起诉日产汽车。戈恩希望获得超过 10 亿美元的赔偿，以弥补自 2018 年在东京被捕以来他的生活陷入困境。

您可能还记得，戈恩从国际商务旅行中乘坐私人飞机抵达日本，当时日本警方将他和格雷格·凯利拘留。他们被指控在 8 年的时间里隐瞒了戈恩支付的 90 亿日元（按当前汇率计算为 5800 万美元）。戈恩和凯利均不不认罪，但这位日产前首席执行官走得更远：他指责日本司法不公平且受到操纵。

联合国人权理事会任意拘留问题工作组似乎同意这位前日产高管的观点。它在2020年表示，戈恩在日本监狱被拘留100多天侵犯了他的权利。根据联合国小组的说法，对他的监禁既没有必要也不合理。“根本上不公平。”

尽管如此，这并不是日本司法系统收到的第一个批评。检察机关刑事案件破案率达99%以上。换句话说，如果检察官对那个国家的任何人提出指控，这个人被认为无罪的可能性很小。在戈恩的案例中，他被捕的背景让一切变得更加阴暗：这位高管指责日本政府和日产制造犯罪，以阻止他将这家汽车制造商与雷诺合并。

戈恩表示，他不希望两家公司合并，只是想让所谓的联盟在他退休后成为永久协议。这确实是一个重大风险。日产、雷诺和三菱共同跻身全球最大的汽车制造商之列，但日产对雷诺在联盟中拥有的权力从未感到满意。这笔交易是戈恩在 1999 年使日产汽车免于破产。如果没有他，这家日本汽车制造商可能早就死了，或者会被另一家公司以几分钱的价格收购，最终成为中国巨头——沃尔沃、smart、MG、罗孚就是这样。 , Lotus, 等等。

日产股东和日本政府显然不希望戈恩提出更多整合的想法，主要是如果这家日本汽车制造商将由法国政府控制的雷诺公司统治。

在他的诉讼中，这位前日产首席执行官希望这家汽车制造商向他支付 5.88 亿美元的损失赔偿和成本，以及 5 亿美元的惩罚性赔偿。戈恩说，对他的指控玷污了他一生的声誉，“即使只是基于怀疑”。具有讽刺意味的是，这位高管声称，为给他支付更多薪水而设计的机制出现了，让他留在了日产。戈恩在 2008 年金融危机期间曾收到大众汽车、通用汽车和福特汽车的邀请。

该诉讼的主要疑问是，如果黎巴嫩法官同意他的指控并判定日产有罪向他付款，这是否会产生任何影响。如果戈恩信任那里的法官（他并不信任）并且不是国际逃犯，那么在日本起诉这家汽车制造商会更有意义。他声称自己只是逃离不公正的说法对于国际刑警组织特工来说没有任何意义。在欧洲和美国提起诉讼也面临着类似的困难，但这位前高管似乎对此举充满信心。

戈恩对路透社表示，日产是“一家大公司，他们的资产遍布各地”。换句话说，“你可以在任何地方追索他们的资产，所以这不是一个笑话。”但是，如果这位前高管赢得诉讼，日产在黎巴嫩的资产是否可以支付如此巨额的费用？如果确实如此，那可能是由于戈恩担任首席执行官的时间。他可能已下令购买黎巴嫩的房产或战略公司，但这极不可能。这位前高管对此的了解肯定比我们想象的要多。

巨额的财产投资需要黎巴嫩的制造设施，而日产没有。这家日本公司最近的工厂在埃及。他的律师可以遵循的另一个策略是针对日产在该国的销售。日本品牌需要几十年的时间才能完全支付假设的 10 亿美元定罪。黎巴嫩司机在 2022 年购买了23,867 辆汽车。日产可能更愿意停止在那里销售汽车。

也就是说，要么日产已成为黎巴嫩的大型房地产投资者，要么是戈恩的诉讼提交的文件更多的是政治声明，而不是更实际的东西。黎巴嫩司法机构无法扣押在其他国家的资产，以确保在可能定罪的情况下得到付款。对于这位前高管来说，重大收益可能是对日本汽车制造商的判决，这可能与日产在日本法院对他的判决平局。这也将表明他仍在为证明自己的清白而战，只是日法争端中的一颗棋子。当然：这颗棋子拥有足够的资源来完成一次壮观的逃脱，但仍然是一颗棋子。

原文

Carlos Ghosn Sues Nissan in Lebanon, Seeking $1 Billion Compensation

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21 Jun 2023, 16:16 UTC • By: 

Gustavo Henrique Ruffo 

Carlos Ghosn cannot leave Lebanon because Japan issued a Red Notice on Interpol for his immediate arrest should he do that. He claims to be the victim of a corporate plot that the facts of his case have only reinforced. That led him to seek a curious relief for these damages: he is suing Nissan in Lebanon. Ghosn wants a bit more than $1 billion for the hell that broke loose in his life since his arrest in 2018 in Tokyo.

As you probably recall, Ghosn arrived in a private jet from an international business trip when the Japanese police took him and Greg Kelly into custody. They were accused of concealing 9 billion yen ($58 million at the current exchange rate) in Ghosn's payments over eight years. Both Ghosn and Kelly pleaded not guilty, but the former Nissan CEO went a bit further: he accused the Japanese justice of being unfair and rigged.
The United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention seems to agree with the former Nissan executive. It stated in 2020 that Ghosn's detention in a Japanese jail for more than 100 days violated his rights. According to the UN panel, his incarceration was neither necessary nor reasonable. Being arrested four times in a row to extend his time in prison was also considered "fundamentally unfair."

Photo: Nissan

As damning as that is, it was not the first criticism the Japanese justice system received. The prosecution offices on criminal cases have a conviction rate of more than 99%. In other words, if a prosecutor presses charges against anyone in that country, this person has only a tiny chance of being considered innocent. In Ghosn's case, the background of his arrest makes everything shadier: the executive accuses the Japanese government and Nissan of inventing crimes to prevent him from merging that carmaker with Renault.
Ghosn said he did not want them to merge, only to make the so-called alliance a permanent deal after he retired. That was indeed a major risk. Together, Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi were among the largest automakers in the world, but Nissan was never happy with how much more power Renault had in the alliance. The deal is that Ghosn saved Nissan from bankruptcy in 1999. Without him, this Japanese carmaker would have already died or would have been bought for pennies by another company, eventually a Chinese giant – which is what happened to Volvo, smart, MG, Rover, Lotus, and a long etcetera.

Photo: Renault

Nissan shareholders and the Japanese government clearly did not want Ghosn's idea of more integration, mainly if the Japanese automaker was to be ruled by Renault, a company that the French government controls.
With his lawsuit, the former Nissan CEO wants the carmaker to pay him $588 million in lost compensation and costs, with $500 million more for punitive damages. Ghosn said that the accusations against him tarnished his reputation for life, "even if based on mere suspicion." Ironically, the executive claims that the mechanisms that were conceived to pay him more money emerged to retain him at Nissan. Ghosn had received invitations from Volkswagen, General Motors, and Ford during the 2008 financial crisis.

Photo: Nissan

The main doubt about the lawsuit is whether it will make any difference if the Lebanese justice agrees with his allegations and convicts Nissan to pay him. Suing the automaker in Japan would have made more sense if Ghosn trusted the judges there – which he doesn't – and was not an international fugitive. His arguments that he just fled injustice will make no difference for Interpol agents. Filing lawsuits in Europe and the US present similar difficulties, but the former executive seems to be confident about this move.
Ghosn told Reuters that Nissan is "a large company, and they have assets everywhere." In other words, "you can go after their assets anywhere, so this is not a joke." But does Nissan have assets in Lebanon that could pay such a hefty bill in case the former executive wins his lawsuit? If it does, that is probably due to Ghosn's time as CEO. He may have ordered the purchase of properties or strategic companies in Lebanon, but that is extremely unlikely. The former executive certainly knows more about that better than we could imagine.

Photo: Renault

That massive amount of money in properties would demand manufacturing facilities in Lebanon, something that Nissan does not have. The closest factory belonging to the Japanese company is in Egypt. Another strategy his lawyers could follow would be to target Nissan sales in the country. It would take the Japanese brand decades to fully pay for a hypothetical $1-billion conviction. Lebanese drivers bought 23,867 cars in 2022. Nissan would probably prefer to stop selling cars there.
That said, either Nissan has turned into a massive real-estate investor in Lebanon or the lawsuit Ghosn filed there is more of a political statement than something more practical. The Lebanese justice cannot arrest assets in other countries to ensure the payment in a possible conviction. For the former executive, the significant gain may be a verdict ruling against the Japanese carmaker, which could tie the game of Nissan having a judgment in the Japanese courts against him. It would also be a statement that he is still fighting to prove his innocence and was just a pawn in the middle of a dispute between Japan and France. Sure: a piece with resources to make a spectacular escape, but a pawn nonetheless. 

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