Carlos Ghosn Speaks Publicly after Escape from Japan.
VAUSE: Well, Carlos Ghosn it's hardly laying low these days. More than a week after a dramatic escape from Japan, where he's facing criminal charges of financial wrongdoing, he seems determined to tell his side of the story. This former titan of the auto industry claims his arrest was part of a plot to oust him as the boss of the giant Nissan-Renault. Ghosn says his decision to Lebanon was a matter of life and death.</s>GHOSN: I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and persecution. Political persecution. Having endured more than 400 days of inhumane treatment in a system designed to break me and unwilling to provide me even minimal justice, I was left with no other choice.</s>VAUSE: And after that news conference, Ghosn sat down with CNN's Richard Quest for more on his dramatic escape.</s>GHOSN: There are many rumors, and they are not all in line with one or the other. I want to tell you something. For example, at the beginning, they said that there is a band, which came to my house in Tokyo for Christmas. And, you know, this band, somehow, was a kind of rehearsal. Then I went into the box that came, took me from the house, et cetera. The whole story is wrong. Why? Because the prosecutor now went to my apartment. There is a monitoring of all the people who are in the house. And they said no.</s>QUEST: So I'll clarify. The rumor and suggestion I'm talking about involves a train trip to Osaka, a hotel, a box, and a flight, and of two private jets via Turkey. Is that substantially accurate?</s>GHOSN: I will make no comment on this. I'm going to tell you why, Richard. Because, obviously, I was lucky to have people who supported me in this. Because, you know, when you are in the situation, where you're in trouble with justice, you don't have too much candidate to help you. I was lucky, and I need to, as much as possible, protect them.</s>QUEST: Right. Those people, some of them, are facing criminal proceedings, potentially, in Turkey. How do you feel about that?</s>GHOSN: I feel bad about it</s>QUEST: But there's not much more you can do, really, is there?</s>GHOSN: Well, you know, we knew from the beginning, what are the risks, you know, involved into an operation like this. We all knew that. I knew what were my risks. I knew what are the risks of all the people who supported the operation. So we all knew that, and we obviously know how much we can do to help, but not more.</s>QUEST: OK what about Mr. Kelly, who remains in jail? He's on bail -- I beg your pardon -- in Japan. There's a sort of feeling of you got out, and he's left behind to carry the camp (ph).</s>GHOSN: Well, at first I was not able, as you know, in Japan to contact Greg. I was forbidden completely. My bail condition and his bail condition, forbidding completely any contact between us. So the on contact possible was through our lawyers. So even if I wanted to help Greg, I couldn't. Because there was no contact.</s>QUEST: But is there a feeling -- Can you understand the feeling that you've left him behind to face the music alone?</s>GHOSN: I'm not sure about that, because I didn't leave Japan to hide somewhere. I left Japan because I'm looking for justice, and I want to clear my name. Which means I will be looking for a country where I could have this case tried, but with a trial respecting the rights of the defense.</s>QUEST: So to clarify this, you are willing to stand trial for these allegations?</s>GHOSN: Yes, I do.</s>QUEST: And have you had discussions with jurisdictions yet as to where that might be?</s>GHOSN: No, because as you can imagine, that if I'm in Japan, and I start to discuss this kind of topic, this would attract the attention.</s>QUEST: But -- but -- but would you accept that any trial would have to be under Japanese law, in the sense of that's the law that you broke? Maybe the system of justice that delivers it would be different. I'm thinking of the -- there's a good precedent you may be with familiar with, of course, the Lockerbie bomber, who was tried in the Hague under Scottish law. Is that the sort of thing you're thinking of?</s>GHOSN: No, I'm thinking about, you know, depending on the country where this would take place, every country would accept a different kind of trial. The only thing I'm looking for is a trial where the rules, or the rights of the defense, would be respected. Which I thought in Japan was not the case.</s>QUEST: One thing seems clear, is that you are regarded as a fugitive by -- by others in the world. And that's not going to change, is it?</s>GHOSN: Well, you have to explain. You know, people don't like a fugitive when the fugitive is escaping justice. It's a different opinion when a fugitive is escaping injustice. You know, I don't think that people look at people who run from North Korea, or from Vietnam, or from Russia, under the communist regime, as people who are running from justice. Well, frankly, I can tell you, that in the system in which I've been through -- I've been through, I consider that there was practically zero chance I would get a fair trial. With zero chance of getting a fair trial, I don't think this is justice. I was not running from justice; I was looking for justice.</s>VAUSE: A lot more from Richard's interview with Ghosn next hour. It seems authorities in Japan has been watching, and they're less than happy. The country's justice minister says Ghosn "has been propagating, both within Japan and internationally, false information on Japan's legal system and its practice. And that is absolutely intolerable." And we're done here. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is next.