The former boss of Renault and Nissan has lived in Beirut since his incredible flight from Japan at the end of 2019.
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More than two years after his flight from Japan, will Carlos Ghosn be caught by French justice? The Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) prosecutor’s office announced on Friday, April 22, that it had issued an international arrest warrant against the former CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, who found refuge in Lebanon at the end of 2019 after escaping a trial for financial embezzlement awaiting him in Tokyo.
This procedure takes place as part of an investigation, particularly for misuse of company assets and money laundering. French investigators are interested in nearly 15 million euros in payments considered suspicious between the alliance then led by the French-Lebanese-Brazilian and a distributor of the French carmaker in OmanSuhail Bahwan Automobiles (SBA).
The Nanterre investigating judge in charge of the investigation has issued a total of five international arrest warrants. They aspire, alongside Carlos Ghosn, “the current owners or ex-managers of the Omani company SBA”the prosecutor said. If the arrest warrant is executed, Carlos Ghosn will be presented directly to an investigating judge from Nanterre, who will inform him of his charges.
“This mandate is very surprising because the investigating judge and the Nanterre prosecutor are well aware that Carlos Ghosn, who has always worked with the judiciary, is subject to a judicial prohibition to leave Lebanese territory”, responded one of Carlos Ghosn’s lawyers, Jean Tamalet. Indeed, the 68-year-old former businessman, already the target of an Interpol arrest warrant, is being forced to stay in Lebanon.
During their investigation, the magistrates of Nanterre have already traveled to Beirut twice. Last February they heard two witnesses there. The previous June, they had attended the free five-day hearing of Carlos Ghosn with magistrates from Paris.
