Former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn should soon be heard for the first time in investigations targeting him in Nanterre and Paris, in particular for abuse of corporate assets.
A delegation of French magistrates and investigators is expected on May 17 in Beirut.
On the menu of questions: two parties at the Palace of Versailles, financial flows with a commercial distributor in Oman, as well as consulting services when Carlos Ghosn was CEO of Renault-Nissan.
“Carlos Ghosn only asks to be auditioned.
He will finally, for the first time since his arrest, have the opportunity to respond to magistrates, surrounded by his lawyers who had access to the procedure and who will be able to defend him, ”declared one of his counsel, Mr. Jean Tamalet of King & Spalding.
Initially scheduled from January 18 to 22, the hearing of the former CEO of Renault-Nissan had been canceled due to the epidemic.
The restrictions linked to the pandemic may again force magistrates and investigators to postpone their trip.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Carlos Ghosn, 67, must be questioned at the Beirut courthouse by the investigating judges in charge of investigations concerning him in Nanterre and Paris, in the presence of magistrates from the Nanterre prosecution and the national prosecution. financial, but also investigators from the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption, Financial and Fiscal Offenses (OCLCIFF).
"The hearings should be held during the week"
"The French consul informed the public prosecutor's office that the French delegation would arrive on May 17," confirmed a Lebanese judicial source.
"The hearings should be held within a week of the arrival of the delegation, although the Lebanese justice has not yet set a date," she said.
The fallen auto tycoon has been living in Lebanon since the end of December 2019 after his incredible escape from Japan - probably hidden in a box of audio equipment - thus escaping a trial for financial embezzlement before the Japanese justice.
In a book published last month and written with his wife, he repeated that he was the victim of a "conspiracy".
In addition to the files concerning him in Japan, Carlos Ghosn, who is the subject of a request for arrest by Interpol and a ban on leaving the territory by the Lebanese justice, is targeted by several cases in France.
Dati and Bauer under the status of assisted witness
In Nanterre, a judicial investigation was opened in February 2020, in particular for abuse of social assets, aggravated breach of trust, forgery and use or even for aggravated laundering of abuse of corporate assets, for facts ranging from 2009 to 2020. The justice suspects him in particular of having derived personal benefit from a sponsorship agreement signed between Renault and the establishment which manages the Palace of Versailles, by organizing two evenings there, of a private nature according to the prosecution, in March 2014 and in October 2016.
Investigators are also interested in the former Franco-Lebanese boss for several million euros in payments reported as suspect between RNBV, a Dutch subsidiary embodying the alliance of Renault and Nissan, and the distributor of the French car manufacturer in Oman. , Suhail Bahwan Automobiles (SBA).
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Carlos Ghosn case: what interests justice
In Paris, the national financial prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation in April 2019, entrusted to investigating judges the following summer, on the consulting services concluded by RNBV, with the former Minister of Justice Rachida Dati and the criminologist Alain Bauer, when Carlos Ghosn was still CEO of the automotive group.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Dati, current mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, would have received 900,000 euros in fees as a lawyer between 2010 and 2012, while she was a member of the European Parliament.
Alain Bauer, he would have received one million euros between 2012 and 2016 for consulting activities.
Dati and Bauer, who deny any irregularities in the contracts, have in recent months been placed under the status of assisted witness.
In this case, Ghosn's former right-hand man at Renault, Franco-Iranian Mouna Sepehri, was also placed in early January under this status, legally placed between that of witness and that of indicted.
