Tokyo, June 14, (dpa/GNA) – A father and son admitted their role before a Tokyo court on Monday in helping auto executive Carlos Ghosn escape pretrial detention in 2019, spiriting him away to Lebanon so he could avoid a court date.
Identified as Michael and Peter T, both Americans, the Kyodo news agency said the pair said the charges applied to them. If they are found guilty of having assisted a fugitive, they could face up to three years in prison.
Ghosn, the former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi carmaking alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on charges of under-reporting his salary and misusing company assets. He was released a few months later into home arrest, but disappeared at the end of 2019 to reappear in Lebanon.
Ghosn possesses Lebanese citizenship. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan.
Prosecutors say the father and son duo hid Ghosn in a crate which was marked as containing musical instruments during the operation to smuggle him out of Japan in a private plane. They charge that the two knew they were violating Japanese law in doing so.
Ghosn has denied all the initial charges against him and has never commented on how he got to Lebanon.
Japan has been trying to have Ghosn sent back ever since. So far, Lebanon has only blocked Ghosn from travelling abroad. His alleged helpers were arrested in America, which, however, does have an extradition arrangement with Japan.
GNA