Mea culpa at the bar.
Two Americans tried in Tokyo for helping Carlos Ghosn flee in December 2019 from Japan, where the former car mogul was being prosecuted for alleged financial embezzlement, said on Tuesday June 29 that they “deeply” regret their actions.
"I helped Carlos Ghosn escape Japan while on bail" with the ban on leaving the archipelago, Michael Taylor said in a quavering voice, according to reports. by the Bloomberg agency, which was able to access the audience.
"I deeply regret my actions and sincerely apologize for causing difficulties for the judicial process and for the Japanese people," added the 60-year-old former US special forces member, who later converted to private security.
Apologies
Peter Taylor, 28, also expressed his regret.
Both defendants bowed deeply after their statements, adopting a quintessentially Japanese gesture of apology, in an apparent attempt to gain leniency from the court.
At the first hearing of their trial, on June 14, the father and son did not dispute the charges against them.
They were arrested last year in the United States and then extradited to Japan in March this year.
They face up to three years in prison.
Michael Taylor also described on Tuesday how he was informed in 2020, via family connections in Lebanon, that Carlos Ghosn was looking for a way to leave Japan.
In November 2018, the one who was at the time CEO of Renault, president of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors and head of the alliance between the three automobile groups, was arrested after landing in Tokyo, then charged with not having declared income that Nissan was to pay him subsequently and breach of trust aggravated.
Amazing escape
The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian, who had been stuck in Japan on bail since April 2019 pending his trial, has always proclaimed his innocence across the board and denounced a plot, to bring him down, at Nissan, scared through a closer union project with Renault.
Since his flight from Japan, which took place under incredible circumstances - he notably hid in a large box of audio equipment to avoid checks at the airport - Carlos Ghosn lives permanently in Lebanon, who does not extradite not its nationals.
He is also involved in several investigations in France, and engaged in civil litigation against Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.
A former Nissan legal official, Greg Kelly, is also currently on trial in Tokyo, on the part of Carlos Ghosn's deferred payments.
He faces up to ten years in prison.
With AFP
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