How did Carlos Ghosn get to Lebanon? According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beirut, Tuesday, December 31, the businessman prosecuted in Japan for financial embezzlement has "legally entered" this country.
The Directorate General of General Safety also said in a statement that the ex-CEO of Renault-Nissant, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities, had entered "legally" in Lebanon, adding that no measure imposed "the adoption of procedures against him" and that nothing "exposed him to legal proceedings".
No judicial cooperation or extradition agreement in Lebanon
He would have arrived Monday "at dawn," said Foreign Affairs in a statement released by the state news agency ANI. The ministry said, however, that it knew nothing about the circumstances of his departure from Japan.
"There is no agreement with Japan on judicial cooperation or extradition," said the ministry, but "the two countries are signatories to the United Nations agreement to fight corruption."
It is on this basis that Lebanon sent several official letters to the Japanese government concerning Carlos Ghosn and which have remained unanswered, he added, stressing however Beirut's desire to preserve "the best relations" with Tokyo.
Carlos Ghosn faces four charges in Japan
The man who was hailed as "the savior of Nissan" after his arrival in the group in 1999 was arrested on November 19, 2018 upon his arrival in the Japanese capital. Carlos Ghosn spent a total of 130 days in pre-trial detention. Released on bail in the spring, he was under house arrest in Tokyo. The Japanese courts had rejected all requests to relax the conditions of his bail, including a ban on contacting his wife.
Carlos Ghosn is facing four charges: two for deferred income not declared to the stock exchange authorities by Nissan (who is also being sued on this aspect) and two for aggravated breach of trust.
In a statement, Carlos Ghosn says he is trying to escape the "injustice and political persecution" of the Japanese justice system. "I am no longer hostage to a biased Japanese justice system where the presumption of guilt prevails," he wrote. "I can finally communicate freely with the media, which I will do next week."
"According to sources quoted by several media in Lebanon, Carlos Ghosn arrived in Lebanon on Sunday evening on board a private jet from Turkey," reports Zeina Antonios, France 24 correspondent in Beirut. No information, however, filters on how the former boss of Renault and Nissan was able to leave Japan and arrive in Turkey. Carlos Ghosn entered Lebanon using a French passport, however, Lebanese MTV reported on Tuesday, citing an official source.
"French authorities have not been informed", according to the Quai d'Orsay
For its part, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that France had no information on this leak. "The French authorities have learned from the press of Carlos Ghosn's arrival in Lebanon. He was the subject of legal proceedings in Japan, with measures intended to prevent him from leaving Japanese territory," said the ministry in a laconic statement.
Furthermore, still according to the Quai d'Orsay, "the French authorities were not informed of his departure from Japan and had no knowledge of the circumstances of this departure".
With AFP
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