LEBANON has received an international wanted notice from Interpol for Nissan’s ex-chairman Carlos Ghosn.
The move comes four days after Ghosn fled from Japan to Lebanon before a trial on financial misconduct charges.
It was originally reported that he had made a daring, movie-style escape from house-arrest by hiding in a large musical instrument case before being smuggled aboard a private jet. However on Wednesday his wife, Carole Ghosn, the supposed mastermind of the plot, described that account as “fiction”.
Whatever his method of escape, Ghosn, originally from Lebanon but also a citizen of France and Brazil, has been in Beirut since the beginning of the week, but has yet to be seen in public.
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Ghosn, who was charged in Japan with breach of trust and under-reporting his pay-cheques and future compensation, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co and alliance partner Renault SA.
Ghosn said on Tuesday that he left for Lebanon because he thought the Japanese judicial system was unjust, and he wanted to avoid “political persecution”.
Albert Serhan, the Lebanese justice minister, said that his country’s prosecution “will carry out its duties”, suggesting for the first time that Ghosn may be brought in for questioning.
He added that Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, ruling out the possibility that Beirut would hand Ghosn over.
Lebanon holds that Ghosn entered legally, and there is no reason to take action against him. The Turkish authorities have reportedly detained seven people as part of an investigation into how Ghosn fled to Beirut via Istanbul.
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