Ghosn and wife Carole in this file pic. — AFP
TOKYO: Tokyo prosecutors confiscated the passport and mobile phone of Carlos Ghosn’s wife, Carole, when they arrested the former Nissan boss this morning, his lawyer said, adding that the defence team would “strongly appeal” the latest arrest.
“Ghosn’s wife happened to be with him when he was arrested, so they confiscated her passport and her mobile,” said Junichiro Hironaka, who heads Ghosn’s Japanese defence team.
“His wife is not a suspect ... this is unforgivable,” he told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Early today, prosecutors arrested Ghosn again on suspicion of trying to enrich himself at the automaker’s expense, in a highly unusual move for someone who has been released on bail.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said Ghosn was given consular help following his appeal.
“I am innocent. It’s hard, I have to admit it, and I call on the French government to defend me, and to defend my rights as a citizen,” Ghosn, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, said in an interview aired today with French TV stations TF1 and LCI.
In a statement from a US-based spokesman, Ghosn said the arrest was an “outrageous and arbitrary” attempt to silence him by unidentified people at Nissan.”Why arrest me except to try to break me? I will not be broken,” he said in the statement.
