BEIRUT: Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn said in a pool interview with Japanese media in Beirut on Friday that he wanted to leave Japan with pride instead of fleeing the country.

"I imagined that I would leave Japan proud of what I have done, proud of Nissan, proud of the alliance" with French automaker Renault SA, Ghosn said.

"Unfortunately, the reality is very different," he said. "I never imagined I would leave Japan this way."

Ghosn, indicted in Japan for alleged financial misconduct, fled Japan to Lebanon late last year while waiting for trial on bail, although he had been banned from leaving Japan as a condition for his release from detention. Ghosn, 65, declined to discuss how he left Japan. "I'm not gonna make any comment on this."

"I don't want people to think that I have any animosity against the country (Japan) or any animosity against the (Japanese) people," he said, adding that "I hope one day I will have a possibility" of visiting the country "peacefully."

At his closely watched press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, Ghosn shut out media organizations critical of him, including many from Japan.

In the pool interview, which lasted about 30 minutes, Ghosn noted that the press conference venue had a limited capacity.

"In the case of Japan, as you know, the media has the tendency to present the fact in the same way," he said. Ghosn said he thought that "if we choose two or three media (organizations) in Japan at the press conference, they will tell the story."

Jiji Press