Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flees to Lebanon to avoid ‘rigged Japanese justice system’
- Lebanon’s state security directorate said Ghosn entered Beirut legally
- His lawyer says he is ‘dumbfounded’ by his client’s departure and does not know how to contact him now
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied,” the former head of Nissan Motor and Renault SA said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have not fled justice – I have escaped injustice and political persecution,” he said.
Ghosn’s escape to Lebanon, where he has citizenship, puts him in a country with no extradition agreement with Japan.
How he got to Lebanon is unclear: Ghosn had been under strict surveillance by authorities while out on bail and had surrendered his passports. Lebanese media reported that he arrived on a private jet from Turkey, and the newspaper Annahar cited caretaker State Minister Salim Jreissati as saying the executive entered with a French passport.
His lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, said he was blindsided by the news. “We were completely caught by surprise. I am dumbfounded,” Hironaka told reporters, adding he’d had no contact with Ghosn and did not know how to reach him now.
