BEIRUT — Lebanese judicial authorities have questioned two individuals on the request of Turkey on suspicion of being concerned within the 2019 escape of auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon through Istanbul, officers mentioned Friday.
The information got here per week earlier than a listening to in Lebanon as a part of a $1 billion lawsuit that Ghosn, previously the president of Nissan, filed towards the corporate and a few dozen individuals in Beirut over his imprisonment in Japan and what he says was misinformation unfold towards him.
Ghosn was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on fees of breach of belief, misusing firm property for private achieve and violating securities legal guidelines by not totally disclosing his compensation. Before he may stand trial, nevertheless, he escaped to Lebanon, through Turkey, apparently hidden in a field on a non-public airplane.
Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan and doesn’t extradite its residents. Ghosn has French, Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship.
Turkey is investigating whether or not the 2 males dedicated an offense whereas on its territory. In 2021, a Turkish court docket convicted an official from a non-public airline and two pilots for involvement in Ghosn’s escape from Japan, and sentenced them every to 4 years and two months in jail.
The officers mentioned one of many two males questioned is a Lebanese pilot who was on the airport in Istanbul when the airplane carrying Ghosn from Japan landed. The pilot, officers mentioned, denied that he received paid to assist Ghosn escape to Beirut. The Associated Press agreed to withhold the pilot’s identify on the request of officers.
The AP has beforehand reported on the opposite man questioned, George-Antoine Zayek. He is believed to have helped a 3rd man, former Green Beret Michael Taylor, cover Ghosn in a big black field supposedly containing audio tools.
A Tokyo court docket handed down jail phrases in 2021 for Taylor and his son Peter after they have been accused of serving to Ghosn escape.
Zayek advised Lebanese judicial officers that he didn’t know Ghosn earlier than the escape, including that he met Taylor in Dubai they usually flew to Japan to attend a live performance, the officers mentioned on situation of anonymity according to rules.
They quoted Zayek as saying that Taylor then mentioned that they need to head to Lebanon they usually boarded a airplane the place he noticed two giant bins. They flew to Turkey after which to Beirut.
Zayek mentioned after arriving in Lebanon he discovered from media stories that Ghosn was on the airplane, the officers mentioned.
Ghosn is needed in Japan and France. Since he fled to Lebanon, Beirut has acquired three notices from Interpol primarily based on arrest warrants for him from these international locations. In France, he’s going through various authorized challenges, together with tax evasion and alleged cash laundering, fraud and misuse of firm property whereas on the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance.
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