Japanese Prosecutors’ Warrants Of Arrest Details Account Of Carlos Ghosn’s Escape

Japanese authorities issued warrants of arrest that detailed Carlos Ghosn’s escape to Lebanon.

In a New York Times report, the warrant for the three accomplices said that they helped Ghosn evade the immigration checks and board a private jet to Osaka en route to Turkey on the first leg of his escape.

This document was the first official confirmation of Japanese authorities on the details of Ghosn’s flight as the man himself refused to disclose to keep the identity of his accomplices safe.

The warrant gave details on how the three men helped Ghosn escape the country.

In a previous IB News Times report, Japanese authorities issued warrants of arrest for three men, an ex-US soldier among them, on Thursday for their role in helping Carlos Ghosn escape to Lebanon.

Prosecutors believed that former Green Beret Michael Taylor, 59; his son Peter Maxwell Taylor, 26; and George Antoine Zayek, 60, smuggled former Nissan co-owner Ghosn out of Japan in late December to his childhood hometown in Lebanon.

All three men are American citizens and their locations are currently unknownMichael Taylor and Zayek hid Ghosn in a “portable luggage” and travelled with him for 300 miles from Osaka to west of Tokyo where they smuggled him through a private jet terminal and onto a waiting plane to Istanbul.

It was said that Ghosn hid in a large box usually used for transporting audio equipment.

Saito also detailed Peter Taylor’s important role in the escape in a news conference.

According to Saito, the younger Taylor reserved a hotel room for Ghosn in Tokyo and provided him with a key where Ghosn, on the day of his flight, changed clothes before he met the older Taylor and Zayek who took him to Osaka.

Upon landing in Istanbul, Ghosn took a flight to Beirut via a private plane while Michael and Zayek took a commercial flight to Lebanon; Turkish authorities showed photos of the two men going through passport control in an Istanbul airport.

The warrants were issued after prosecutors raided the Tokyo office of Ghosn’s lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka and confiscated material that Ghosn prepared for his defense.

Ghosn denied the charges against him saying that the allegations were part of a plot to prevent the strengthening of Nissan’s alliance with its French partner, Renault.

According to NBC News, Ghosn called out Japan’s unjust judicial system and said that it is either he flee or spend the rest of his life in Tokyo without a fair trial.

He said that when he was arrested in November 2018, he was reportedly put in solitary confinement for a long period of time and was interrogated without a lawyer.

He was released after paying nearly $14 million in bail.
Prior to his flight, he stayed in his home in central Tokyo and had his movements and his internet use was limited to his lawyer’s office.

His interactions with his wife were also prohibited except for two short video calls because the prosecutor was afraid that she would conspire with him to tamper with witnesses of evidence.

Since Ghosn’s escape, prosecutors had issued a red-notice for for him at Japan’s request, asking that cooperating countries arrest him.

A warrant has also been issued for the arrest of Carole Ghosn, his wife, accusing her of giving false testimonies about her husband’s case.

The couple, who held Lebanese passports, are currently staying in Beirut as Lebanon and Japan have no extradition treaty and Lebanon has a policy that does not allow it to hand over its nationals to other countries.

Ghosn’s camp hopes to hold the trial in Lebanon.