Carlos Ghosn, November 8, 2018 in Lebanon. - Ludovic MARIN / AFP

The investigation continues in Japan, two days after Carlos Ghosn's flight to Lebanon. According to a source familiar with the matter, the ex-boss of Renault-Nissan had two French passports, one of which was on him in a case closed with a secret code.

According to Japanese media, a search took place this Thursday in the house where he lived in Tokyo on parole. Carlos Ghosn, who was charged four times and released from pre-trial detention in April 2019, lived relatively free to move within Japan, under various conditions. According to the source contacted by AFP, three passports (a French, a Lebanese and a Brazilian) are kept by his lawyers, but Carlos Ghosn had two French passports.

A mystery box opened by a secret code

An exceptional authorization from the court allowed him to have one on him, locked in a kind of case (box or bag, the type is not specified) which remained in his possession but whose key (a secret code) was also detained by her lawyers, the same source said. This document served him as a short-stay visa in the archipelago and he must therefore have it on hand for his internal trips, the same source explained. In the event of a check, he had to contact the lawyer holding the code so that he could get around (he could not just give the code over the phone to a police officer), said the source, indicating that such provisions did not concern not just Carlos Ghosn, but also other people released on bail.

The Japanese authorities have however no computer data indicating that Carlos Ghosn, easily recognizable, would have presented himself under his real identity to the controls at the borders of Japan before his departure, in any of the airports of the country.

An illegal exit from Japanese territory

He is therefore suspected of having used an “illegal means” of leaving the territory (under another identity or by escaping controls), underlines the public television channel NHK quoting sources close to the investigators. This second French passport could, however, have been used on arrival in Turkey for the usual formalities, before then traveling to Lebanon where, according to local authorities, it entered legally.

One of Carlos Ghosn's lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, assured on Tuesday that his defense team had the three passports (French, Brazilian and Lebanese) of their client, but had not mentioned a second French passport.

It was unclear at this point when and how the passport was issued to him. For his escape, Carlos Ghosn is suspected of having borrowed a private jet from Kansai airport. A plane of this type took off on December 29 at around 11 p.m. from this infrastructure in the direction of Istanbul, local media said. The ex-CEO of Renault-Nissan, who was preparing his trial to begin in the year in Japan, confirmed Tuesday to be in Lebanon from where he promises to speak "freely" to the media soon, causing consternation in Tokyo.

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