Japan tries to solve the mystery of Carlos Ghosn's audacious escape

[kobayashiGT]

Japan tries to solve the mystery of Carlos Ghosn's audacious escape

source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/02/business/ghosn-escape-japan-lebanon-raid/

Tokyo / Hong Kong (CNN Business)Japanese authorities have raided the house where fugitive auto executive Carlos Ghosn was staying before he arranged his escape to Lebanon earlier this week, possibly via Turkey.

Japanese media reported that Tokyo district prosecutors entered the property on Thursday. CNN affiliate TV Asahi also reported that prosecutors were working with police to access CCTV video around his home as part of their investigation.

Ghosn — the former chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, and former chairman and CEO of their alliance partner, Renault — had been awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial wrongdoing, including allegations that he understated his income for years and funneled $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he controlled. He was ousted from his posts at Nissan (NSANF) and Mitsubishi Motors following his arrest in November 2018, and later resigned from Renault (RNLSY).

As a condition of being released on bail, Ghosn was required to stay in Japan. But his case was completely upended earlier this week after Ghosn revealed that he had fled Japan for Lebanon to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system.

Lebanon said Thursday that it had received a "red notice" from Interpol confirming that the former auto titan is wanted by police.

It is still not clear how Ghosn, who is a citizen of France, Brazil and Lebanon, was able to slip out of Japan. Reuters and the Financial Times have reported that he was smuggled out of Tokyo by a private security company -— a plot that the media organizations say took months to concoct.

The governor of Istanbul said in a statement Thursday that Turkish police have detained seven people in connection with an investigation into Ghosn's "illegal escape" from Japan. Anadolu news agency said that Ghosn traveled via the city's Ataturk airport. Police detained four pilots of a private airline, a company manager and two ground staff at the request of the Istanbul prosecutor, according to the statement from the governor's office.

Flight tracker Flightradar24 showed a private jet flying from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul and then another continuing to Lebanon at the time Ghosn is said to have arrived in the country.

CNN Business has been unable to verify the circumstances behind his departure, and Ghosn did not elaborate on his escape in his public statement earlier this week. In a brief statement on Thursday, Ghosn denied reports that his family were involved in helping him flee.

"All such speculation is inaccurate and false. I alone arranged for my departure. My family had no role whatsoever," he said.

Japan's justice ministry, the Tokyo prosecutor's office and the city's district court have not responded to requests from CNN Business this week for comment about Ghosn's escape. Government offices are closed this week for the New Year holiday.

Legal experts and political analysts say that Japan is probably trying to figure out whether Ghosn violated immigration law when he left the country — not that there's much of a chance of forcing him to return.

Prosecutors in Tokyo are now likely retracing Ghosn's moves through Japan, collecting surveillance footage and searching for potential collaborators said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor who now runs a compliance and law office in Japan.

Gohara added that Ghosn's trial is almost certainly now canceled. The bigger question, he said, is how Japanese authorities will respond to Ghosn's attacks on them, now that he is able to speak freely about his detention.

Ghosn has repeatedly denied the charges against him, and claimed that his arrest was part of a plot to remove him from the automotive empire he built. In his statement this week, he said he would "no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied."

Japan can't force Lebanon to send Ghosn back, said Keith Henry, the founder and representative director of Asia Strategy, a research and policy firm based in Tokyo. The two countries have no extradition agreement.

"It is a bigger deal for [Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe and Japan than for Ghosn," Henry said. "No matter what they do now, it is very difficult to overcome the embarrassment of letting go one of the most high-profile suspects" of corporate scandal since Japan's economic boom that followed World War II.

Quote

Carlos "Ghost" out. Maybe he need to pay some special visit to his relative during this CNY period.

 

[Wt_know]

good material for next hollywood movie ... lol

[Mockngbrd]

1 minute ago, Wt_know said:

good material for next hollywood movie ... lol

Starring

[kobayashiGT]

5 minutes ago, Mockngbrd said:

Starring

WOAH! can leh! hahahhahaha. Need to eat abit more than looks like ghosn le.

[1fast1]

Ghosn Baby Ghosn. 😂

Good for him. I don't think the Japanese legal system is a fair one to "gaijin", even elite ones.

[Picnic06-Biante15]

Mas Selamat was the champion of them all, zero cost .....

Home clothing, toilet windows, toilet papers and on foot to MY ...  

 

[Mustank]

[Victor68]

When you screw up, just admit it and move on. Stir more, it get smelly. Haha

[Count-Bracula]

Car lost  . . . Gone! 

[Carbon82]

Carlos Ghosn Rumored To Escape House Arrest By Hiding In Instrument Case

A very weird rumor floating around is saying that Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, escaped Japanese house arrest and fled to Lebanon this past weekend by reportedly hiding in a musical instrument case ahead of a trial for his alleged financial misconduct.

Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times—one of the outlets that first reported Ghosn’s escape yesterday afternoon—wrote on Twitter that “Beirut sources” say the executive hid in a box designed for a musical instrument to escape:

Yesterday afternoon, The Washington Post and Financial Times both reported that Ghosn had left Japan and taken a private jet to Lebanon on Sunday, but it was initially unclear whether the accused businessman had arranged something with the conditions of his bail and house arrest with Japanese authorities, or if he had fled the country.

We’re a bit skeptical of the piano case rumor as of right now, however, as we’re talking about Japan, a country with fairly strong passport controls, and it’s a wild coincidence that Ghosn escaped right before New Year’s Eve – a very convenient time to bury some less-than-desirable news.

A day after Ghosn was initially arrested back in November of 2018, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry released a statement backing the auto exec, claiming it would “stand by him in his adversity to ensure he gets a fair trial.” It looks like they may have given him a way out, instead.

In a press release following the initial reports of Ghosn’s travel, the former auto executive claimed he had “escaped injustice and political persecution,” via CNBC:

I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” Ghosn said in a statement.

“I have not fled justice — I have escaped injustice and political persecution. I can now finally communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week,” he added.

That sounds like something somebody who actually “fled justice” might say, but I can’t say for sure as I have never had to smuggle myself out of Japan for doing money crimes (that you can prove!).

Also working in Ghosn’s favor is that Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, as the Washington Post notes.

Ghosn’s lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka claims the sudden vacation was even a surprise to him, according to CNN, though fleeing house arrest from a country with a strict justice system—Japan’s conviction rate is around 99 percent—sounds like something you would check in with legal experts about before choosing where to go, if you’re smart enough to pick a place that won’t just kick you back out and feed you to your hunters.

Ghosn has citizenship in France, where he was CEO of Renault and the Nissan-Renault Alliance, Lebanon, where his family is from, and Brazil, where he was born.

He also came very close to being a permanent resident of Japan, after initially being held by Japanese authorities for 108 days. He was released in March 2019 after paying a bail sum of $9 million, but was then arrested again and posted another bail worth $5 million in April, totaling a record amount of $14 million. The conditions of his bail included close surveillance, seizing of his passports, and even forbid him from speaking to his wife.

If charged, Ghosn’s accusations of financial misconduct, including allegedly misreporting up to $80 million in differed compensation, could land him up to 15 years in prison. That is, if he ever ends up back where Japanese authorities can get to him.

[mersaylee]

Ladies and gentlemen!
 

may I introduce you the strong and powerful fearless Ghosnzilla !!!

[Carbon82]

2 hours ago, Picnic06-Biante15 said:

Mas Selamat was the champion of them all, zero cost .....

Home clothing, toilet windows, toilet papers and on foot to MY ...  

 

Heng Abe is smart, never come out to say: "Ghosn is either in Japan and hidden by sympathisers unknown to the authorities, or he has fled the country." 

[Neost]

my opinion.... Japan authority release water... Letting him go is a lesser evil than expose all damn dirty things in an open Court

[Wt_know]

5 minutes ago, Neost said:

my opinion.... Japan authority release water... Letting him go is a lesser evil than expose all damn dirty things in an open Court

of course

just see how they handle fukushima disaster you know liao

no one can handle truth

 

[Datsun366]

Beam me up Scotty.

[Mustank]

1 hour ago, Neost said:

my opinion.... Japan authority release water... Letting him go is a lesser evil than expose all damn dirty things in an open Court

 

[Mustank]

[BanCoe]

6 hours ago, Picnic06-Biante15 said:

Mas Selamat was the champion of them all, zero cost .....

Home clothing, toilet windows, toilet papers and on foot to MY ...  

 

and likely lotsa empty Coke or Pepsi bottles for floating down to JB