Will Carlos Ghosn be safe from prosecution in Lebanon?
Lebanese businessman Carlos Ghosn escaped from house arrest in Tokyo and headed to Lebanon, where the judiciary is now weighing whether his past visit to Israel could be considered an act of normalization.
BEIRUT — The case of Carlos Ghosn has come to dominate world public opinion in recent days. The former CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi auto empire escaped house arrest in Tokyo in a Hollywood-style plot Dec. 29. He made his way to his homeland Lebanon. Ghosn, 65, holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship, and has a net worth of approximately $120 million, according to Bloomberg.
Ghosn was imprisoned in Japan in November 2018 on charges of financial misconduct, tax evasion and using Nissan money for private investments. Japanese authorities released him in April 2019 on a bail of 500 million yen ($4.5 million), but he remained under house arrest.
Ghosn said the decision to escape was the most difficult decision of his life. At a press conference in Beirut Jan. 8, he said he was held "hostage" and had only two options: die in Japan or flee. Ghosn lashed out at Japanese prosecutors for preventing him from communicating with his wife, Carol.
According to Japanese media, Ghosn escaped with the help of two collaborators. They rode a bullet train from Tokyo's Shinagawa station to Osaka. They checked into a hotel near Kansai International Airport and the two collaborators were spotted leaving the hotel with two boxes. It is believed that Ghosn was hiding in a box, with holes drilled in the bottom to help him breathe.
