Tokyo, Feb 12 (EFE).- Japanese automaker Nissan Motor on Wednesday filed a $90 million civil lawsuit against disgraced former chairman Carlos Ghosn in a Japan court, the company said.

The suit, filed at the Yokohama District Court, the city where the company is headquartered, "seeks an initial amount of JPY 10 billion ($90 million) to recover a significant part of the monetary damages inflicted on the company by its former chairman as a result of years of his misconduct and fraudulent activity," the company said in a statement.

The damages have been calculated on the costs incurred by the automaker "due to Ghosn and his corrupt practices over many years".

These include the use of overseas residential property without paying rent, private use of corporate jets, payments to his sister, costs related to the firm's internal investigation into Ghosn and legal costs incurred in Japan and overseas, according to the statement.

The lawsuit is linked to the breach of trust charges against the former Nissan chief and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, who is also accused in Japan of financial misconduct, including underreporting his compensation from Nissan and misappropriation of the company's assets for personal gain.

Nissan expects the damages to "increase in future" as the company seeks to recover fines to be paid to the Japanese Financial Services Agency for alleged improper communication of the salaries agreed with Ghosn and "likely penalties imposed on the company in criminal proceedings related to Ghosn's misconduct".

Nissan filed another civil lawsuit against Ghosn on Aug. 30, 2019 in the British Virgin Islands "where unauthorized payments and transactions were processed through special purpose entities" linked with the title of a yacht.

"Nissan has intensified its campaign to recover damages from its former chairman following his illegal flight from justice," the Japanese carmaker said in the statement, in which it also asserts its right to take separate legal action "over groundless and defamatory remarks made by Ghosn in comments to the media" after his escape.

Ghosn fled clandestinely from Japan to Lebanon at the end of December while on bail over alleged financial misconduct charges, the trial for which was expected in April.

The former Nissan chairman who has French, Brazilian and Lebanese passports, pulled off a daring escape from the Asian country and is currently in Beirut, from where he has continued to insist he "did not escape justice".

"I fled injustice and persecution, political persecution," he has said. EFE

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