December 31, 2019, 13:38 / Auto

Japanese lawyers of Carlos Ghosn commented on his flight

Japanese lawyers for former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn are extremely surprised by his flight to Lebanon, Junichiro Hironaka, head of Ghosn’s defense team, said at a press conference in Tokyo. According to him, none of the top manager’s Japanese lawyers were aware of his plans to leave the country. Earlier, three of Ghosn's foreign passports were confiscated from him, reports . NHK TV channel

“I was amazed by this news. It's like a tub of water on your head. I knew nothing about my client’s preparations for departure,” Hironaka told a Japanese television channel. According to him, Ghosn's seized passports are in the possession of his lawyers, but he could not use them to leave the country. According to NHK, Lebanese authorities confirmed that Ghosn entered with documents under a different name.

Earlier, Ghosn confirmed information about his departure from Japan. “I’m not running from justice, I’m running from injustice and political persecution,” the Reuters news agency reported Ghosn’s words. The former Nissan executive promised to communicate freely with the media.

A ban on traveling abroad was one of the conditions for Ghosn’s release on bail in April 2019. The top manager has citizenship of three countries - Brazil, France and Lebanon.

As NHK notes, Japan and Lebanon do not have an extradition treaty, so it will be extremely difficult to extradite Ghosn.

Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and charged with breach of trust, falsifying financial statements of income and fraud. The investigation believes that the top manager hid the amount of remuneration he received as chairman of the board of directors of Nissan, declaring only half of his income since 2010 (thus, he illegally received about $89 million). Another accusation concerns his covering, at the company’s expense, losses amounting to 1.85 billion yen (about $21 million) incurred by Ghosn as a result of private investments. In April, the court placed Ghosn under house arrest. The top manager made a deposit of 500 million yen ($4.5 million). He does not admit his guilt.