Authorities in Japan have issued an arrest warrant for the wife of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, who fled the country last week while awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct.
Prosecutors have accused Carole Ghosn of providing false testimony in a Tokyo court last year in her husband's case.
Ghosn escaped to Lebanon on December 29, a move that stunned both his legal team and law enforcement officials in Japan, where he was under strict restrictions under the terms of his bail agreement. He was initially arrested in November 2018 and charged with diverting millions of dollars from a Nissan subsidiary for his personal use, and of underreporting his income.
Ghosn says the charges are a conspiracy concocted by Nissan executives who opposed his plans for a fuller merger between the Japanese automaker and its French alliance partner Renault. Ghosn will hold a press conference Wednesday in Beirut to discuss the so-called "coup" against him.
Nissan issued a written statement Tuesday vowing to continue to seek "appropriate legal action" against Ghosn despite his escape to Lebanon.
Ghosn reportedly took a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, then hid himself in a large container that was flown aboard a private jet to Istanbul before traveling to Lebanon, which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.
He was credited for steering Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming one of the world's top-selling automakers. He engineered a three-way alliance with Renault and one-time domestic rival Mitsubishi Motors.