Japan seeks arrest of Ghosn's wife amid efforts to snare him

 

FILE: Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn speaks during a joint interview in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture on May 13, 2016. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun )

 

TOKYO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosn's wife for alleged perjury, as officials stepped up efforts to bring the fugitive car industry boss back to face trial on financial misconduct charges.

 

The former Nissan Motor, and Renault chairman fled to Lebanon last month from Japan, where he has alleged there was a government-backed coup to oust him.

 

A senior Japanese Ministry of Justice official said staff were poring over Lebanese laws to find a way to bring back Ghosn and that Japan "will do whatever it can" to put him on trial.

 

In Beirut, the justice minister confirmed that prosecutors had received a "red notice" arrest warrant from Interpol in respect of Ghosn and would take the necessary action.

 

The ministry said nothing had been received from Japanese prosecutors relating to an arrest warrant for his wife, Carole, who is in the Lebanese capital.

 

The Japanese warrant accuses her of falsely claiming not to know, or to have met, people connected to a company that received payments from Nissan Motor, part of which it subsequently transferred to a firm owned by Ghosn.

 

Japan's ambassador to Lebanon, Takeshi Okubo, met President Michel Aoun on Tuesday to request "greater co-operation on this in order to avoid negative repercussions for our friendly relations", according to Aoun's office.

 

Ghosn is scheduled to hold a news conference on Wednesday, his first such appearance since his arrest in November 2018 and his dramatic flight to Lebanon, his childhood home.

 

'SPEAK FREELY'

"Last time Carlos Ghosn announced a press conference and got re-arrested. This time, the day before he is announced to speak out freely for the first time, they issued an arrest warrant for his wife Carole Ghosn," a spokeswoman for Ghosn told Reuters in Beirut. "The issuance of this warrant is pathetic."

 

Ghosn is expected to detail some of the claims he has made against Nissan since his arrest.

 

Citing an interview with Ghosn, Fox Business reported that he said he has "actual evidence" and documents to show there was a Japanese government-backed coup to "take him out". He plans to identify those he believes responsible, the broadcaster said.

 

In earlier court filings seen by Reuters and statements released by his lawyers, Ghosn says he was unseated to destroy any possibility of a merger between Nissan and Renault, accusing Nissan executives of colluding with prosecutors and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry officials.

 

Ghosn's legal team also said prosecutors withheld evidence, citing concerns voiced by Nissan that it included sensitive information about operations and employees.

 

Nissan said that despite Ghosn's flight from Japan the company still held him responsible for "serious misconduct".

 

"The company will continue to take appropriate legal action to hold Ghosn accountable for the harm that his misconduct has caused to Nissan," the automaker said in a statement.

 

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, on Tuesday described Ghosn's escape to Beirut via Istanbul as "regrettable" and said Tokyo had asked Lebanon for help. "It's necessary to carefully consider the legal systems of both countries," he told a news conference.

 

Lebanon does not normally extradite its citizens.

 

Turkish-based MNG Jet, operator of the private planes Ghosn used to escape, said half of the $350,000 flight contract was paid from Dubai by a company called Al Nitaq Al Akhadar, which it did not know.

 

MNG said last week it was not aware Ghosn used its jets and has blamed an employee it said falsified documents to transport him from Osaka to Beirut.

 

(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Makiko Yamazaki, Chang-Ran Kim, Chris Gallagher, David Dolan, Junko Fujita and Sam Nussey in Tokyo, Samia Nakhoul and Eric Knecht in Beirut, and Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Christopher Cushing and Giles Elgood)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-08

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5555 They fumbled the ball, lost the game and now they want to hang the waterboy.   Are they making themselves look silly or what?

I find this disgusting. Using a person's family as a pawn in their game. I wish him and his family luck and maybe this will warn others to steer clear of Japan. I do not believe anything coming from the Japanese prosecutors. The guy has an exceptional record. 

45 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

I find this disgusting. Using a person's family as a pawn in their game. I wish him and his family luck and maybe this will warn others to steer clear of Japan. I do not believe anything coming from the Japanese prosecutors. The guy has an exceptional record. 

You think perjury is ok.

59 minutes ago, Scot123 said:

I find this disgusting. Using a person's family as a pawn in their game. I wish him and his family luck and maybe this will warn others to steer clear of Japan. I do not believe anything coming from the Japanese prosecutors. The guy has an exceptional record. 

 

Yes a mega rich business person would never cheat, steal, lie, evade taxes and then pay mercenaries to facilitate his escape to a country that normally doesn't extradite its citizens for any reason.

 

Your choice to condemn the Japanese legal system and upheld this fugitive's honor is clearly based on your intimate knowledge of all the details in this case.

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Lebanon does not normally extradite its citizens.

and thats all folks

Ghosn's crime was to shine too brilliantly. Foreigners are tolerated, but ones that rescue a collapising auto giant and put together a manufacturing cartel of epic proportions are not.

 

The legal system in Japan is a violation of what any sane person would deem reasonable. It is just a mechansim of official gansterism, nothing more.

 

Ghosn may well be in breech of any number of regulations - but the idea he would engage in petty enrichment schemes is inconsistant with his extraordiany abilities, which I suspect got him into trouble in the first place.  

The Japanese do not allow Any foreigners into the business world for any reason in a leadership role. 

 

Xenophobic to an exponentially high level 

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

Your choice to condemn the Japanese legal system and upheld this fugitive's honor is clearly based on your intimate knowledge of all the details in this case.

And Japanese hierarchy are always squeaky clean?

4 hours ago, Sujo said:

You think perjury is ok.

1- it's not perjury if the false statement was not given under oath

 

2- yes, perjury is perfectly OK when the system is rigged. this case stinks, the re-arrest of Ghosn after the press conference was a foul move by prosecutors. One would think they would by now have ample proof of their accusations, but the case is dragging.

 

3- going after the wife now is ... oh well, so Japanese if they have an axe to grind, and Saitama's cronies certainly have. Ghosn made them lose face.

Edited January 8, 20206 yr by tgw