The two Americans, tried since mid-June in Tokyo for helping Carlos Ghosn flee in December 2019 from Japan, where the former car tycoon was being prosecuted for alleged financial embezzlement, expressed their regret on Tuesday.
"I helped Carlos Ghosn escape Japan while he was on bail" with the ban on leaving the archipelago, said Michael Taylor in a quavering voice, according to reports. by the Bloomberg agency, which was able to access the audience.
"I deeply regret my actions and I sincerely apologize for causing difficulties for the judicial process and for the Japanese people," added the 60-year-old former US special forces member, who had converted to private security .
Michael Taylor also described, this Tuesday, how he had been informed in 2020 via family relations in Lebanon that Carlos Ghosn was looking for a way to leave Japan.
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His son, Peter Taylor, 28, also expressed his regret.
Both defendants bowed deeply after their statements, adopting a quintessentially Japanese gesture of apology, in an apparent attempt to gain leniency from the court.
At the first hearing of their trial on June 14, the father and son did not dispute the charges against them.
They were arrested last year in the United States and then extradited to Japan in March this year.
They face up to three years in prison.
Several surveys in France
In November 2018, the one who was still CEO of Renault, president of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors and head of the alliance between the three car groups, was arrested after landing in Tokyo, then charged with not declaring income that Nissan was to pay him later and aggravated breach of trust.
The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian, who had been stuck in Japan on bail since April 2019 pending trial, has always proclaimed his innocence across the board and denounced a plot at Nissan to bring him down, in fear a closer union project with Renault.
Since his flight from Japan, which took place under incredible circumstances - he notably hid in a large box of audio equipment to avoid checks at the airport - Carlos Ghosn lives in Lebanon, who does not extradite his nationals.
He is also involved in several investigations in France, and engaged in civil litigation against Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.
A former Nissan legal official, Greg Kelly, is also currently on trial in Tokyo, on the part of Carlos Ghosn's deferred payments.
He faces up to ten years in prison.
