Photo: Nissan
After being the talk of the industry for the better part of 2019, former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn decided to end the year in the same high note, and is once again making the headlines.
The disgraced auto industry prodigy has left Japan this week and arrived in Lebanon, the country where his grandfather was born. The Brazilian-born made sure to let the world know he never plans to return to Japan, where a trial is expecting him in 2020.
Ever since the beginning of his ordeal, Ghosn has maintained his innocence, accusing his former colleagues at Nissan of staging his problems in order to remove him. As more and more details of his alleged wrongdoings surfaced, Ghosn turned his sights on the Japanese justice system.
As if preparing the way for a possible and justifiable escape, Ghosn hinted in a video in April 2019 he doesn’t trust the Japanese law, prosecutors, and courts. At the time, he said he for one is hopeful in a fair trial, but the “three competent lawyers” that have his back don’t share “a lot of serenity about the fairness” of this process.
Now, as his escape makes the headlines across the world, Ghosn is portraying himself as a victim once again, a hostage even.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” he said in a statement.
Going further, the man adds he has not fled justice, but also “political persecution.”
According to The New York Times, Ghosn escaped the reach of Japanese law as he was a free man at the moment, having posted a $9 million bail earlier this year. Somehow, he got away from the watchful eyes of the authorities and even his lawyers, who claim they knew nothing about his escape, and arrived in Lebanon via Turkey.
Being a Lebanese citizen, Ghosn is allegedly protected from extradition. Rumor has it he is now also protected by armed guards at his house in the country.
Ever since the beginning of his ordeal, Ghosn has maintained his innocence, accusing his former colleagues at Nissan of staging his problems in order to remove him. As more and more details of his alleged wrongdoings surfaced, Ghosn turned his sights on the Japanese justice system.
As if preparing the way for a possible and justifiable escape, Ghosn hinted in a video in April 2019 he doesn’t trust the Japanese law, prosecutors, and courts. At the time, he said he for one is hopeful in a fair trial, but the “three competent lawyers” that have his back don’t share “a lot of serenity about the fairness” of this process.
Now, as his escape makes the headlines across the world, Ghosn is portraying himself as a victim once again, a hostage even.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” he said in a statement.
Going further, the man adds he has not fled justice, but also “political persecution.”
According to The New York Times, Ghosn escaped the reach of Japanese law as he was a free man at the moment, having posted a $9 million bail earlier this year. Somehow, he got away from the watchful eyes of the authorities and even his lawyers, who claim they knew nothing about his escape, and arrived in Lebanon via Turkey.
Being a Lebanese citizen, Ghosn is allegedly protected from extradition. Rumor has it he is now also protected by armed guards at his house in the country.
Google News