A source in the Presidential Palace in Lebanon denied, Thursday, that the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, had met businessman Carlos Ghosn, after arriving to Beirut, after he fled from Japan, where he was under house arrest, pending the start of his trial for financial violations.
Commenting on media reports about the meeting of Aoun's gathering in Ghosn, a Lebanese presidential source told France Press on Thursday that "Ghosn did not meet the President of the Republic."
Ghosn, the former president of Nissan, arrived on Monday in Beirut on a private plane, using a French passport and Lebanese ID card, in a move that caused a great shock in Tokyo, while the Lebanese authorities considered on Tuesday that he entered the country "legally" and nothing warranted his pursuit.
It was not clear yet what circumstances Ghosn, 65, had left, in a development that also seemed to surprise his defense team in Japan, while in his first comment he vowed to speak "freely" to the media, starting next week.
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement about Ghosn on Tuesday that "the circumstances of his departure from Japan and the arrival in Beirut are unknown to us, and all talk about it is his private matter."
For its part, France announced through the Minister of State for Economy, Agnes Pagnier-Ronaché, that her country will not extradite a branch, if he enters France.
The minister told BFMTV: “If Ghosn comes to France, we will not extradite him, because France never deports its citizens, so we will apply to Ghosn the same rules that apply to anyone else, but that does not negate our belief that Ghosn must Not to evade the Japanese judiciary, ”according to Agence France-Presse.
Sources close to Ghosn said on Thursday that the latter decided to flee Japan after he learned that his trial had been postponed to April 2021 and that he had been prevented from talking to his wife.
In Tokyo, the Japanese authorities Thursday carried out a raid at Carlos Ghosn's house, while Turkey arrested several people shortly after an investigation was opened to find out how the former CEO of the Renault-Nissan group managed to flee to Lebanon via Istanbul.
Japanese prosecutors suspect that Ghosn used a second French passport he had in his possession.
Japanese channels broadcast photos of investigators entering the home of a branch in Tokyo until the mysterious escape.
Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities arrested seven people on Thursday, as part of an investigation into the way it crossed from Istanbul to Lebanon.