Carlos Ghosn interview: the Nissan boss’s great escape from Japan

He was the legendary boss of Renault who brought Nissan back from the brink of collapse. Then, in 2018, multimillionaire Carlos Ghosn was arrested and accused of financial misconduct on a huge scale. Three months ago, his daring escape from Japan made headlines. Tim Bouquet meets him in Beirut

Carlos Ghosn emerges from the art nouveau lift on the top floor of one of Beirut’s classic boutique hotels, his security man in tow. He’s looking rather red in the face. “Sunburn,” he says, briskly shaking hands. “I was skiing yesterday. It’s very easy to burn when the weather is as beautiful as this.”

It is the third day of March 2020 and as Ghosn (rhymes with bone) gazes out over Beirut’s sun-bathed skyline and the craggy snow-capped mountains just an hour away, he admits that there were times in the past year when he thought he would never see the sun again.

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Wearing expensive loafers and dressed entrepreneur-casual in blazer and slacks, Carlos Ghosn, 65, does not look like a man who is on