Interpol arrest request for Ghosn

From CEO to inmate to fugitive, the Carlos Ghosn story took yet another turn for the bizarre after Interpol overnight issued an international arrest notification for the former Renault-Nissan kingpin.

The international police force has issued a “red notice” for Ghosn while Turkish police have detained seven people after the French-Brazilian-Lebanese businessman’s dramatic escape from Japan during Christmas Eve celebrations.

The scandalized automotive figure is free for the first time in a year in his native Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan, where he had been in and out of prison awaiting charges on alleged misuse of Nissan funds.

He is alleged to have siphoned off millions of dollars of Nissan funds for his personal uses and to have deferred enormous chunks of his salary until his retirement, without telling shareholders.

Ghosn insists the justice system in Japan is rigged (the 99.9 percent conviction rate it boasts of may point to some truth in that), with suspects held without charge against Japan’s commitments to international human rights.

Turkish authorities, meanwhile have detained seven people, including four pilots, over their roles in an escape from Japan that Ghosn insisted he organized on his own.

There are questions from Turkish authorities on how Ghosn’s Turkish-registered plane had been allowed to transit from Japan to Istanbul on its way to Lebanon.

Investigations centre on a Bombardier, with the code TC-TSR, which flew from Osaka to Istanbul and parked directly inside a hangar. A second Bombardier, this time a Challenger 300, with the code TC-RZA, left the hanger 45 minutes later according to Turkey’s DHA news agency.

Turkish private jet operator MNG Jet has filed criminal complaints against some of its own employees, who it insisted had acted in a “rogue” manner over the “Illegal use of its jet charter services in relation to Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan”.

Ghosn returned to Lebanon in time for the New Year celebrations after being under virtual house arrest on bail. He has already met with the Lebanese President.

Interpol red notices are requests for provisional arrest prior to extradition or prosecution, but are not conventional arrest warrants.

Japanese authorities are reportedly mortified by Ghosn’s escape and have searched his home and CCTV footage of his possible movements in the weeks leading up to it.

The Japanese media has turned even more firmly against Ghosn, labeling him a coward and fugitive for not standing to defend himself against the charges.

His own lawyers, still holding his Lebanese, Brazilian and French passports, have yet to hear from the millionaire businessman. He is believed to have travelled on a concurrent French passport.

Ghosn intends to address the media next week, but a missive from a Paris-based public relations firm said his family had nothing to do with his escape and that he orchestrated it alone.

"The media reports saying my wife Carole and other family members played a role in my departure from Japan are falsehoods. I alone organised my departure," Ghosn’s statement said.