2021年经济学人 卡洛斯·戈恩与日产的恩怨纠葛(2)（在线收听）

But they boiled over as Mr Ghosn sought, at the French government’s behest, to make the alliance “irreversible”.

但当戈恩在法国政府的要求下，试图让联盟“不可逆转”时，他们之间的紧绷状态还是爆发了。

Nissan read this as code for a full merger that would cement Gallic dominance. This, claims Mr Ghosn, led some in Nissan to manufacture charges in order to get rid of him.

日产将此解读为全面合并的信号，而这将巩固法国人的主导地位。戈恩声称，这导致日产公司的某些人为了赶他下台而捏造的指控。

Nissan’s version is that he was a greedy tyrant who regarded the Japanese firm as a personal bank account.

日产对此的说法是，戈恩是一个贪婪的暴君，把日产汽车视为个人的资产账户。

This claim gained more credence when French prosecutors also began an investigation of Mr Ghosn,

当法国检察官也开始对戈恩展开调查时，这一说法得到了更多的佐证。

including into the funding of a lavish party thrown for his wife’s birthday at the palace of Versailles—

调查内容包括戈恩为他妻子庆生在凡尔赛宫举办的一场奢华生日派对的资金来源——

a far cry from his Japanese prison cell, where a bowl of rice gruel counted as luxury.

从昔日众人追捧到如今日本监狱里一晚清粥都算奢侈的落魄，不免让人唏嘘。

The authors point to a clash of corporate cultures as the reason he may have sought to circumvent pay disclosure using a deferred-pay scheme,

作者们指出，企业文化冲突可能是戈恩想通过延期支付方案来规避薪酬披露的真实原因。

which Nissan claimed broke the law.

日产方面称，这种做法违反了法律。

In Japan and France ceos are paid far less than equivalent American bosses; doubtless he thought his skills should be properly rewarded by global standards.

在日本和法国，首席执行官的薪酬远低于同等级别的美国老板；毫无疑问，他认为自己的能力应该获得符合全球标准的适当报酬。

The competing narratives were never aired in court, though, after Japan’s criminal-justice system—

然而，在日本的刑事司法系统——依靠长期监禁和高强度审讯来获得供词——

which relies on prolonged incarceration and intense interrogation to obtain a confession—collided with Mr Ghosn’s stubborn refusal to admit any wrongdoing.

与戈恩先生拒不认罪发生冲突之后，这种相互矛盾的陈词从未在法庭上对质过。

Eventually released on bail, he fled in the belief that he would not receive a fair trial and would remain under house arrest for years.

他最终获得保释，但他相信自己不会得到公正的审判，还将被软禁多年，于是设法逃离。

Some readers may be dismayed by the authors’ reluctance to speculate on the verdict should the trial have gone ahead

一些读者可能会对作者不愿推测若审判继续推进，结果将如何而感到不快

(they conclude that, given the “arcane” accusations of financial irregularities, a “ruling is likely to be just as abstruse”).

(他们的结论是，鉴于针对戈恩财务违规行为的指控“晦涩难懂”，“裁决可能同样让人摸不到头脑”)。

But the end result is that Mr Ghosn remains trapped, these days in Lebanon,

但最终的结果是戈恩仍然被困在黎巴嫩，在那里他是安全的，

where he is safe from the international arrest warrants that might be executed should he board any more corporate jets.

如果他再次登上公务航班的话，那么国际逮捕令可能会被执行。

Meanwhile the alliance he created, languishing without its leader, may yet break apart.

与此同时，他创建的联盟，在没有领导人的情况下日渐衰弱，可能会分崩离析。