Carlos Ghosn's sensational escape from Japan is already reading like an economic thriller. The ex-Nissan boss was apparently smuggled out of Tokyo by a private security company and flown to Beirut via Istanbul via a private jet. The plan is said to have been worked on for several months.
In Lebanon, the former CEO has a luxury property in Beirut. Ghosn was born in Brazil and grew up in Lebanon. He is a French, Brazilian and Lebanese national.
News agencies from different countries released various unconfirmed details of the escape this Thursday: According to the Lebanese news broadcaster MTV, a group of paramilitaries allegedly played as musicians for a dinner party and smuggled the ex-manager out of his house in a double bass case. Ghosn is only 1.67 meters tall.
The Turkish news agency Anadolu said that at Ghosn's flight with a private jet, the Ataturk airport in Istanbul was used, which has been closed to regular operations since October.
The Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the 65-year-old had two French passports, of which he had only given one. He was allowed to carry the second one in a locked bag. Lebanese judicial circles said Ghosn had entered with a valid new French passport.
Interpol issues arrest warrant against Carlos Ghosn
Several media reported that Ghosn's wife Carole concocted the plot. According to Ghosn's Japanese lawyer, the two spoke to each other for more than an hour on December 24. According to bail conditions, Ghosn is not allowed to have any contact with her.
What is certain is that the Ghosn case is now causing international complications. Seven people have been arrested in Turkey for allegedly helping Ghosn escape. Four pilots are said to be among the suspects.
Japan has received an arrest warrant for Ghosn from the Interpol International Police Department. The Tokyo State Department said the Japanese government was now dependent on help from the Lebanese authorities because there was no extradition agreement with the Mediterranean state.
Meanwhile, the French government also said: Ghosn could feel safe in France - at least before being extradited to Japan. "If Mr. Ghosn came to France, we would not extradite Mr. Ghosn because France never extradits its own nationals," said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, State Secretary in the French Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance.
"I organized my departure alone"
The once highly respected car manager was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018. There are four charges against him. Ghosn is accused of claiming that his income is too low, that he has harmed Nissan by five million euros and that he has personally enriched himself. In Japan, he faces a prison sentence of several years and the trial should begin in April.
Ghosn's lawyers assert that they themselves were caught by the coup of their mandate. "We were completely surprised by this, I'm speechless," said Ghosn's lawyer Junichiro Hironaka in Tokyo. He had no contact with Ghosn, said Hironaka. He did not know "how to proceed now".
Ghosn does not want to speak until next week. He was "no longer a hostage to the manipulated Japanese judicial system," he said in a first statement. In a statement, Ghosn rejected that his family might have been involved in planning his escape. "It was me all alone who organized my departure," said Ghosn. Reports to the contrary are untrue. "My family didn't matter."
