World cops hit ex exec Interpol seeks Nissan fugitive
The auto executive whose wild ride from justice took him from Japan to Lebanon has Interpol seeing red.
Elusive ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, who made a dramatic escape as charges of financial wrongdoing hung over his head in Japan, was hit with a “red notice” from Interpol on Thursday.
The international police issued the wanted notice for the former chairman of Nissan and Renault as he sought to distance his family from blame for his escape. Ghosn has said he faced a “rigged” justice system in Japan and has maintained his innocence.
The Interpol notice — akin to an FBI wanted poster — is non-binding, and the crime control agency cannot use it to compel member states to make arrests of fugitives.
Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.
Lebanese Justice Minister Albert Serhan told The Associated Press that the country “will carry out its duties” in relation to Ghosn, perhaps signaling he could be brought in for questioning. But Ghosn, a citizen of Lebanon, entered the country on a legal passport, Serhan said. Ghosn also has citizenship in France and Brazil.
Ghosn — who faced a possible 15-year prison term in Japan — jumped bail and used private jets to get from his Tokyo home to Lebanon.
He was spotted in Beirut wining and dining on New Year's Eve, according to French TV channel TF1. The bigwig arrived in Lebanon on Monday.
Japanese prosecutors pored through his former Tokyo home Thursday looking for evidence. And Turkish authorities said they detained several aviation workers as they investigated Ghosn's movement through the country on his way to Lebanon.
In a statement issued before New Year's, Ghosn, 65, declared he had arrived in Lebanon and claimed he would “no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied.”
Ghosn was due in court in April in Japan. He had posted bail of $13.8 million.
He grew up in Lebanon and enjoys significant popular support there.
His journey halfway across the planet has captured public imagination and left authorities scratching their heads. The trip involved months of planning with associates, The Wall Street Journal reported, and sources told the paper his wife played a role in the escape. She told The Journal in a text that being reunited with her husband was the “best gift of my life.”
But the escaped exec pushed back on reporting that his family aided his flight. In his second statement of the week, issued Thursday, Ghosn said: “The allegations in the media that my wife Carole and other members of my family played a role in my departure from Japan are false and misleading. I alone organized my departure. My family played no role.”
The Lebanese government has also said it played no part in Ghosn's flight from Japan.
In yet another plot twist, two Lebanese lawyers want Ghosn prosecuted over a visit he made to Israel as Renault-Nissan chairman in 2008. The two countries are technically at war, and Lebanon forbids its citizens from traveling there.
With News Wire Services