BEIRUT (Reuters) - Fugitive former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn met Lebanon’s president after his escape from Japan, where he was smuggled out of house arrest by a private security company, two sources close to Ghosn said on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chariman Carlos Ghosn leaves the Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo, Japan April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
One of the sources said Ghosn was greeted warmly by President Michel Aoun on Monday after flying into Beirut via Istanbul and was now in a buoyant and combative mood and felt secure.
In his meeting at the presidency, Ghosn thanked Aoun for the support he had given him and his wife Carole while he was in detention, the sources said. He now needs the protection and security of his government after fleeing Japan, they added.
A media advisor to the president’s office denied the two men had met.
Lebanese officials have said there would be no need to take legal measures against Ghosn because he entered the country legally on a French passport, although Ghosn’s French, Lebanese, and Brazilian passports are with lawyers in Japan.
The French and Lebanese foreign ministries have said they were unaware of the circumstances of his journey.
Lebanon has no extradition agreement with Japan, where he faced trial on charges of financial misconduct, which he denied.
Under the terms of his bail, he had been confined to his house in Tokyo and had to have cameras installed at the entrance. He was prevented from communicating with his wife, Carole, and had his use of the internet and other communications curtailed.
The sources said the Lebanese ambassador to Japan had visited him daily while he was in detention.
‘PURE FICTION’
While some Lebanese media have floated a Houdini-like account of Ghosn being packed in a wooden container for musical instruments after a private concert in his home, his wife called the account pure fiction when contacted by Reuters.
She declined to provide details of the exit of one of the most recognize titans of industry. The accounts of the two sources suggest a carefully planned escape few were aware of.
They said a private security firm oversaw the plan, which was three months in the making and involved shuttling Ghosn out via a private jet to Istanbul before pushing onward to Beirut, with even the pilot unaware of Ghosn’s presence on board.
“It was a very professional operation from start to finish” said one of the sources. The other source said Ghosn was in good health.
In a written statement, Ghosn said after his arrival that he had “escaped injustice and political persecution” and would begin communicating with media next week. Sources close to him said he was unwilling to share details of his escape so as not to jeopardize those who aided him in Japan.
He is staying at the home of a relative of his wife, but plans to return soon to a gated villa in the upscale Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh, one of the sources said.
He was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and faces four charges - which he denies - including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.
Nissan sacked him as chairman saying internal investigations revealed misconduct including understating his salary while he was its chief executive, and transferring $5 million of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.
Ghosn has enjoyed an outpouring of support from Lebanese since his 2018 arrest, with billboards proclaiming “We are all Carlos Ghosn” erected in solidarity with his case.
Locally he is considered a poster boy for success in a country where rampant unemployment pushes young Lebanese abroad to find work and the economy relies heavily on remittances amid a deep financial crisis that has sparked a wave of protests.
Ghosn was born in Brazil but of Lebanese descent and lived in Lebanon as a child. He oversaw a turnaround at French carmaker Renault that won him the nickname “Le Cost Killer” and used similar methods to revive Nissan.
Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Laila Bassam; writing by Eric Knecht; editing by Philippa Fletcher
He was once a titan of the car industry who held hero status in Japan. He then became one of the country's most well-known criminal suspects. Now he's an international fugitive.
Carlos Ghosn, the multi-millionaire former boss of Nissan, had spent months preparing to stand trial on financial misconduct charges. At least, that was what the Japanese authorities were led to believe.
He posted 1bn yen (£6.8m; $8.9m) in bail in April. He was monitored by a 24-hour camera installed outside his house. His use of technology was heavily restricted and he was banned from travelling abroad.
Then, in a move that left Japan red-faced and his own legal team baffled, he appeared in Lebanon on New Year's Eve. "I have escaped injustice and political persecution," he declared in a statement.
"We were completely caught by surprise. I am dumbfounded," his lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told a crowd of reporters in Tokyo shortly after learning of Mr Ghosn's flight. "I want to ask him, 'How could you do this to us?'"
Another pressing question is: how did he do it at all?
A musical escape?
One Lebanese TV channel - MTV - reported that Mr Ghosn had fled his court-approved residence in Tokyo with the assistance of a paramilitary group who were disguised amongst a band of musicians.
It said the band had performed at his house and, shortly after they had finished, the 65-year-old hid himself in a large musical instrument case which was then hurried to a local airport. If this really happened, it may have been a tight squeeze even for Mr Ghosn, whose height is reported at 5ft 6in (167cm).
According to the MTV story, he then flew to Turkey, before arriving in Lebanon on a private jet. The broadcaster provided no proof for this theory which, unsurprisingly, spread rapidly across social media.
But donning a spy-movie disguise is not beyond Mr Ghosn. In March, in a bid to throw journalists off his scent, he left prison disguised as a construction worker. He was quickly identified, mocked in the media, and his lawyer soon apologised for the "amateur plan".
The role of Carole Ghosn
The former CEO's getaway from Tokyo to Beirut was meticulously planned over a period of several weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper, which cited a number of unidentified sources, said a team was carefully assembled to carry out the plot. The group reportedly included accomplices in Japan who transported Mr Ghosn from his house and onto a private jet bound for Istanbul. From there, he continued his journey to Beirut where he arrived in the early hours of 30 December.
The plane tracking site FlightRadar24 showed a a Bombardier Challenger private jet arriving at Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport shortly after 04:00 local time. Mr Ghosn then met his wife Carole, who was born in the city and was heavily involved in the operation, the Wall Street Journal says.
Several reports have said Carole Ghosn was a major figure behind the plan for her husband to skip bail and get out of Japan. She spoke with him for more than an hour on 24 December, Mr Ghosn's Japanese lawyer said. The couple had previously been banned from meeting or communicating under Mr Ghosn's strict bail conditions.
After he arrived in Lebanon, Mrs Ghosn told the Wall Street Journal that their reunion was "the best gift of my life". She has not commented on her alleged involvement in the operation.
Earlier this year she told the BBC: "I want my husband back. I want him with me. I know he is innocent."
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Carlos Ghosn grew up in Lebanon, owns property there and is a popular figure. He even appeared on one of the country's postage stamps.
He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Three passports
Questions remain about the documents Mr Ghosn used to enter Lebanon. He holds three passports - Brazilian, French and Lebanese - but his legal team maintain that they were in possession of all of them when he left Japan. It is not known whether Mr Ghosn was holding duplicate passports - as businesspeople are sometimes allowed to do.
While the French newspaper Le Monde said he travelled on an ID card, others have reported that he used a French passport or a false identity with forged documents. Lebanon's foreign ministry insisted that he entered the country legally.
The embarrassment caused by Mr Ghosn's flight soon sparked a reaction from Japan. One Japanese politician asked whether he "had the support of some country". A former governor of Tokyo was more forthright, accusing Lebanon of direct involvement.
"The government has nothing to do with [Mr Ghosn's] decision to come," Lebanese minister Salim Jreissati was quoted as saying by the New York Times. "We don't know the circumstances of his arrival."
There is no extradition deal between Japan and Lebanon, which means the future of Mr Ghosn's trial is now fraught with uncertainty.
Japan gives millions in aid to Lebanon and will likely want Mr Ghosn returned. But it will no doubt have to answer further questions about how such a high-profile suspect was able to get out of the country in the first place.
Here's what's open and closed on New Years Day. Hours vary by location and some places close early for the holiday, so it's best to call ahead to check.
Target -- Open regular hours
Walmart -- Open regular hours
Kroger-- Open regular hours
Publix -- Open, but many stores have limited hours
Whole Foods -- Open, but many stores have limited hours
Movie theaters -- Open regular hours
Zoos -- Open regular hours
Malls -- Most malls and department stores are open. Call your local stores to check.
Trader Joe's -- Closed
Costco -- Closed
Aldi -- Closed
Government-run locations, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and public libraries, are most likely going to be closed.
The US Postal Service will not deliver mail Wednesday, and US post offices are closed as well. FedEx and UPS will also be closed.
Banks are generally closed, although ATMs are always available.
If you plan to visit a museum, call to make sure they aren't closed. Not every museum is open on New Year's Day.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Carlos Ghosn’s daring flight from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial wrongdoing, has revived global criticism of the nation’s “hostage justice,” but in Japan is prompting talk of reversing more lenient curbs on defendants.
FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chariman Carlos Ghosn leaves the Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo, Japan April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato
The ousted boss of Japan’s Nissan Motor Co and France’s Renault SA fled to Lebanon, saying on Tuesday that he had “escaped injustice” and would “no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system.”
Ghosn was first arrested in November 2018 when his private jet landed in Tokyo and kept in jail for more than 100 days as prosecutors added more charges, all of which he has denied. He was released on $9 million bail in March - only to be arrested and bailed again the following month.
He was facing four charges, including underreporting his Nissan salary and transferring personal financial losses to his employer’s books while he ran Japan’s No. 2 automaker.
His apparent escape from Japan’s legal system - Tokyo and Lebanon don’t have an extradition treaty - will likely halt or even reverse a trend of recent years toward granting bail in more cases, said Colin Jones, a law professor at Doshisha Law School in Kyoto.
“I would expect it to be more difficult for foreign defendants to get bail,” Jones said.
In Japan, suspects who deny the charges against them are often detained for long periods and subject to intense questioning without a lawyer present, a system critics call “hostage justice.”
Japanese civil rights groups and the main bar lawyers association have long criticized a system that convicts 99.9% of criminal defendants. They say it gives too much power to prosecutors, who can detain suspects for long periods before indictment, and relies too much on confessions, some later found to have been forced and false.
Ghosn’s escape is clearly a shock to Japan’s legal establishment.
“This case raises the extremely serious issue of whether it’s all right to continue the trend toward bail leniency,” said former prosecutor Yasuyuki Takai.
“The legal profession and lawmakers need to quickly consider new legal measures or a system to prevent such escapes,” Takai, who was formerly with the special investigation unit of the prosecutor’s office, told public broadcaster NHK.
“Until the way to achieving this is in sight, we should carefully consider temporarily halting this trend toward bail leniency.”
The Tokyo District Court granted Ghosn bail over the objection of prosecutors because of his lawyer’s assurances that the former executive would observe his unusually strict bail conditions - which included surrendering his passports, barring him from seeing his wife Carole or using the internet outside his lawyers’ office.
“But this trust was betrayed and even this high bail didn’t prevent him from fleeing the country,” Takai said.
Tokyo-based lawyer Stephen Givens said Japan’s political right is using Ghosn’s flight to say, “See, we caved in to Western demands and look what happened.”
Still, Givens said the Ghosn case likely won’t reverse the recent trend of greater willingness to grant bail, as Japan was becoming more sensitive to foreign criticism.
The bold escape “may provide grounds for a backlash but only in very unusual cases,” he said.
Reporting by Linda Sieg; Additional reporting by Tim Kelly; Writing by William Mallard; Editing by Neil Fullick
TOKYO (Reuters) - The imposing home where Carlos Ghosn lived for the last seven months and probably launched a daring escape to avoid Japanese prosecutors is nestled in a leafy enclave of Tokyo where most people pay little attention to Westerners or luxury cars.
A view of a house where is believed that former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn lived before he fled to Lebanon, in Tokyo, Japan January 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tim Kelly
Yet neighbors say it was impossible not to notice one of the world’s most famous executives, or the black car that seemed to idle nearby whenever he was around - a stark reminder of the surveillance on the ousted Nissan Motor Co chairman while out on bail for financial misconduct charges.
Ghosn on Tuesday said he had fled to Lebanon to escape a “rigged” justice system in Japan, an astonishing revelation that raises questions about how one of the world’s most-recognized businessmen slipped past authorities, especially after he had surrendered his passports under the terms of his bail.
Hana Takeda, who lives in an apartment close to the house where Ghosn has lived since May, said she would sometimes see him out walking with one of his three daughters.
“He wasn’t very secretive. I would see him hanging around with his daughter,” Takeda, 28, told Reuters.
The large, multi-level house is not far from the central Roppongi district in an area popular with diplomats and western executives.
There is a police presence because of the proximity of at least one embassy and houses for diplomats. Many homes had western luxury cars parked outside, including BMWs, Land Rovers and Bentleys.
Three wireless security cameras peered out from the balcony above the brick porch. Under the terms of his bail, Ghosn had to have cameras installed at the house’s entrance.
No one came to the door when a Reuters reporter rang the doorbell. A double garage was shut and net curtains were drawn across the windows. Upper floor windows were covered by blinds.
A policeman on a bicycle made regular rounds through the small neighborhood.
Another neighbor, 62-year-old American Whitney Rich, said he had sometimes noticed a black car near the house.
Ghosn was initially arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and faces four charges, which he denies. They include hiding income and enriching himself through payments to Middle East dealerships.
It seems unlikely he will now stand trial in Tokyo as Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon.
AUDACIOUS ACCOUNT
It was unclear how Ghosn, who holds French, Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship, was able to orchestrate his departure from Japan. He entered Lebanon legally on a French passport, one source has told Reuters.
In one audacious account from Lebanese TV news channel MTV, which Reuters has not been able to verify, a group of musicians arrived at Ghosn’s Tokyo house, performed and then packed up their instruments with him inside one of the larger cases. He was then whisked to the airport and out of the country with the help of privately hired security.
What is clear is that Ghosn was tightly monitored - a fact that has made his escape all the more spectacular. Authorities had monitored and restricted his movement and communications to prevent him, they said, from fleeing or tampering with evidence.
There always seemed to be a car at the end of the street near Ghosn’s house, said one Western expat who had lived in the area for nine months.
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“He kept a low profile... There was a car parked constantly nearby,” the expat said, declining to be identified.
“He was under constant surveillance.”
Reporting by Tim Kelly and Maki Shiraki; Writing by David Dolan
