Beirut (AFP)
Lebanon has received a request for the arrest of Interpol for Carlos Ghosn, the fallen car magnate who fled Japan to Beirut, the Lebanese justice minister announced Thursday.
"The public prosecutor's office (...) has received a red notice from Interpol concerning the Carlos Ghosn file," said Albert Sarhane, quoted by the official ANI news agency.
Following an incredible flight, the ex-boss of Renault-Nissan, who was prosecuted in Japan for financial embezzlement, arrived in Lebanon on Monday, where his place of residence remains unknown.
Interpol does not issue arrest warrants and cannot initiate investigations or prosecutions, but member countries and international tribunals can request the publication of "red notices".
These international wanted notices are based on national arrest warrants, the information of which they contain is transmitted to other members via a secure database.
Lebanese authorities have already announced that Ghosn had entered the country "legally" with a French passport and a Lebanese identity card, according to a source in the presidency.
For its part, the General Security had assured that nothing imposed "the adoption of procedures against him" nor "exposed him to legal proceedings" in Lebanon.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry recalled that there were no "judicial cooperation" or extradition agreements with Japan.
Mr. Ghosn, who was the highest paid entrepreneur in Japan, was arrested there at the end of 2018. He is the subject of four charges in that country: two for deferred income not declared to the stock exchange authorities by Nissan (which is also being prosecuted on this aspect), and two others for aggravated breach of trust.
© 2020 AFP