PARIS —

       French prosecutors have issued an international arrest warrant for disgraced auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn, who fled Japan in 2019 for Lebanon in a dramatic escape.

       Nanterre prosecutors’ office in France said Friday that the arrest warrant for the former head of Nissan and Renault is among five issued by them. The Ghosn warrant is based on an investigation opened in 2019 into money-laundering and abuse of company assets reportedly involving millions of dollars in alleged suspect payments between the Renault-Nissan alliance and Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, a vehicle distributor company in Oman.

       The Nanterre prosecutors’ office described this as the next step in a two-year investigation, one of two separate cases involving Ghosn in France and focusing on payments made to Suhail Bahwan Automobiles.

       Ghosn fled to Lebanon in late 2019 while out on bail facing financial misconduct charges in Japan. In an interview last year with the Associated Press, Ghosn was confident, energized and determined to fight to restore his reputation.

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       A statement sent to the AP on Friday from Ghosn’s PR team called the French warrant “surprising.”

       “This is not an arrest warrant issued by France but by the Nanterre prosecutors’ office in an investigation still in progress,” it said.

       The statement also suggested that the warrant was ineffective as Ghosn “is subject to a judicial ban on leaving Lebanese territory,” where he currently resides.

       Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. Ghosn has citizenship in Lebanon, France and Brazil.