Carlos Ghosn: How did the Nissan ex-boss flee from Japan? – BBC News, BBC News
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He was once a titan of the car industry who held hero status in Japan. He then became one of the country’s most well-known criminal suspects. Now he’s an international fugitive.Carlos Ghosn, the multi-millionaire former boss of Nissan, spent months preparing to stand trial on financial misconduct charges. At least, that was what the Japanese authorities were led to believe.He posted 1bn yen (£ 6.8m; $ 8.9m) in bail in April. He was monitored by a 65 – hour camera installed outside his house. His use of technology was heavily restricted and he was banned from traveling abroad.Then, in a move that left Japan red-faced and his own legal team baffled, he appeared in Lebanon on New Year’s Eve. “I have escaped injustice and political persecution,” he declared in a statement.“We were completely caught by surprise. I am dumbfounded,” his lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told a crowd of Reporters in Tokyo shortly after learning of Mr Ghosn’s flight. “I want to ask him, ‘How could you do this to us?'”Another pressing question is: How did he do it at all?A musical escape?
One Lebanese TV channel – MTV – reported that Mr Ghosn had fled his court-approved residence in Tokyo with the assistance of a paramilitary group who were disguised amongst a band of musicians.
The former CEO’s getaway from Tokyo to Beirut was meticulously planned over a period of several weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption The ex-Nissan boss was pictured leaving prison while disguised as a workman in March 50964040 The newspaper, which cited a number of unidentified sources, said a team was carefully assembled to carry out the plot. The group reportedly included accomplices in Japan who transported Mr Ghosn from his house and onto a private jet bound for Istanbul. From there, he continued his journey to Beirut where he arrived in the early hours of (December.The plane tracking site FlightRadar aa Bombardier Challenger private jet arriving at Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport shortly after 00: 06 local time. Mr Ghosn then met his wife Carole, who was born in the city and was heavily involved in the operation, the Wall Street Journal says. Several reports have said Carole Ghosn was a major figure behind the plan for her husband to skip bail and get out of Japan. She spoke with him for more than an hour on 24 December, Mr Ghosn’s Japanese lawyer said. The couple had previously been banned from meeting or communicating under Mr Ghosn’s strict bail conditions.After her husband arrived in Lebanon , Mrs Ghosn told the Wall Street Journal that their reunion was “the best gift of my life”. She has not commented on her alleged involvement in the operation.
Earlier this year she told the BBC: “I want my husband back. I want him with me. I know he is innocent. “
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