Two men were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the high-profile escape of former Nissan Motors Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn, who evaded Japanese authorities in December 2019 after facing trial on alleged financial wrongdoing.
It is not easy to help a high-profile executive like Carlos Ghosn evade the law while he was under bail and 24-hour surveillance. According to the NHK, Ghosn took a bullet train from Shinagawa to Osaka, hid himself inside an audio equipment box and then caught a private jet to Istanbul followed by another to Lebanon.
Soon after, Ghosn was placed on the Interpol Red Notice.
It was suspected that Ghosn had the help of private military contractors to make his escape. The arrest of former Green Beret Michael Taylor, 59, and his son Peter Taylor, 27, comes after Japanese authorities issued an extradition request for the two to the United States.
Japan had issued arrest warrants for the Taylors in January, as well as for a third person named George-Antoiune Zayek, all of whom are believed to have aided Ghosn escape from Japan on December 29, 2019.
Ghosn was arrested in 2018 on charges that he had understated the compensation he received from Nissan and that he had misappropriated company funds in the process of hosting his wedding at the Palace of Versailles. He was sacked from Nissan that very year.
Ghosn had earlier served as Cheif Executive of Renault and as chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. he is credited with helping restructure Nissan and Renault from near-bankruptcy by imposing a series of cost-cutting measures including layoffs.
He helped put together the ‘Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance’—a strategic partnership that served as the world’s largest automotive alliance.
Ghosn is a citizen of three countries, Lebanon, France and Brazil. Since Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan, the country refused a request by Japan for the same—with Lebanese judicial authorities insisting that if Ghosn committed any crime, he would stand trial for them in Lebanon.
Ghosn says he fled Japan to evade its 'rigged' justice system, pointing out that it had a 99.9 per cent conviction rate.
