The rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn

From being a celebrated businessman to a wanted fugitive, the journey of automobile executive Carlos Ghosn is one of the darkest and most fascinating tales from the business world

| JANUARY 18, 2020, 02:20 AM IST

SHREYAS DESAI


Carlos Ghosn had been honored by some of the highest civilian awards in Britain, Japan, and Morocco. He played a crucial role in turning companies like Nissan, Michelin and Renault profitable, sometimes from near-bankruptcy. He was also called “The Cost Killer” and “Mr Fix-it” in international automobile industry. His celebrity status reached a new peak when a Japanese comic book series made after his life started in 2002. But none of it had generated as much buzz as when he fled Japan for Lebanon on December 30, 2019. It all started a little more than a year ago.

Police arrested Carlos with his close aide Greg Kelly, on 1 November 19, 2018 at Tokyo International airport. He was charged of irregularities in the books of accounts of various companies where he served on top positions. Media reports claimed that Ghosn used millions of dollars to pay for his four lavish international properties. 

Released later on bail, he was rearrested in December 2018 for shifting personal losses worth $16m to Nissan. Denials of his bail were met by offers of higher guarantees from Ghosn, and criticism of the Japanese Judicial system by his lawyers. Nonetheless, the court denied his bail plea in January 2019. Meanwhile, aides of Ghosn at Nissan resigned, and legal counsels reputed for high profile acquittals were hired for Ghosn.

The former executive was granted bail on  March 6, 2019, after 108 days behind bars. The conditions for bail included about $9m guarantee, confiscation of his passport, ban on international travel, 24 hour surveillance on his house, and no internet access. 

He was again arrested in April, on fresh suspicions of financial misconduct. Four days later, shareholders voted to oust him and Greg Kelly from the Board of Nissan. In an official YouTube video, Ghosn said he was “innocent of all the accusations that came around these charges that are … biased, taken out of context, twisted … to paint a personage of greed”. He was released in late April, this time with a new condition, forbidding him from meeting his wife for four months.

The French government and Renault had been supportive of Ghosn initially, supposedly under the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty”. However, in June, Renault admitted to finding 11 million euros in questionable expenses by Ghosn. The French government was now forced to initiate investigations against him.

September marked the first retreat by Ghosn, when he settled with the US, the charges of understating incomes more than $140m.

Ghosn was perhaps at the end of his perseverance and patience now, and was looking for a way out. After requests of diplomatic help to three countries, and French PM Emmanuel Macron himself - only Lebanon responded, but its actions were proving little help. The trials against Ghosn in Japan would take until 2021 to start, and the chances of him proving his innocence looked slim with the record-high conviction rates of Japanese Legal System. He was looking at anything between 15 years in jail, or being forever stuck in Japan. He could wait, while his reputation and contacts decayed rapidly under strict bail conditions, or risk something daring that could either retrieve some of his freedom or send him to a solitary confinement cell. From his discussions with a Hollywood producer and American journalist Jake Adelstein, Ghosn seemed convinced that he would be convicted in Japan. 

Reports say his escape plan was prepared by the likes of US army officers, 2003 Iraq war veterans, and private security experts with decades of experience in Lebanon, over more than six months.

Security cameras confirm that Ghosn left his apartment in Tokyo on 29 December at 14:30, and took a bullet train with two others to a hotel near the Osaka airport. Few hours later, the other two men left the hotel for the airport, carrying large boxes of audio equipment in which Ghosn is now speculated to have hidden. At least one of those boxes was never checked by the airport authorities or customs officials. Their Bombardier private jet left Osaka at 23:10 for Istanbul, flying over Russia for most of the journey, instead of the shortest route. Ghosn is known to have business as well as political connections in Russia, and if the jet was intercepted mid-voyage, it would have been easier to gain some favors there. After a change of planes in Istanbul, Ghosn only appeared to the public eyes when he landed in Beirut, Lebanon. It came to light after arrests in Turkey, that both private jets were hired through MNG Airlines, one of whose employees later admitted to faking passenger data.

Shortly, Japanese courts revoked Ghosn’s bail, and Interpol issued warning to Lebanon against him, but it was too late. Ghosn, who holds the citizenship of France, Brazil, and Lebanon, had arrived in the country legally, using his second passport that is a rare privilege of highly reputed persons. In the absence of an extradition agreement and given the near-heroic status of Ghosn in the country, Lebanon is sure to refuse Japan’s requests for deporting him.

When confirming reports of him fleeing to Lebanon in his first press conference of 2020, Ghosn said he would “no longer be held hostage by the rigged Japanese system where guilt is presumed… and human rights are denied”, and he was “not fleeing justice… (but) political persecution”. He pleaded innocence, named Nissan executives who plotted his downfall, and insisted he would clear his name. Next day, Lebanon courts imposed an international travel ban on Ghosn, as expected.

So far, The escape seems to have costed Ghosn about $30 million directly - in bail money and travel expenses. He has forfeited much more in retirement funds that he will not receive now from companies he spent decades working for. He might also lose control of his posh residences across the globe. So far having lost about 40 percent of his net worth, the odds are far from over for Carlos Ghosn. Although cases in Japan are now at a standstill, investigations in France and Lebanon are underway, on old and new charges. However, Ghosn may be planning a book or a movie telling his story. 


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