PARIS (REUTERS, AFP) - The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Tuesday (Jan 7) said a Japanese arrest warrant against her was to avenge her husband's escape from Japan's judiciary, and described the act as petty.

"Japanese prosecutors are seeking revenge," Mrs Carole Ghosn told Le Parisien newspaper in an interview conducted in Beirut, where her husband arrived last week after being smuggled out of Japan while he awaited trial for financial misconduct.

Mrs Ghosn said the Japanese prosecutors were "hoping to put pressure on my husband" a day before he is to give a press conference in Lebanon.

She added that she was not in the loop about his audacious escape from Japan, adding that it was the "only choice possible".

Ghosn jumped bail and fled from Tokyo. The interview came hours before an eagerly awaited press conference by the disgraced executive in Beirut on Wednesday.

"I wasn't aware of anything... I was in Beirut with my children to celebrate Christmas, someone called me to say 'I have a surprise for you'. It was the best in all my life!" Mrs Ghosn said.