The Nanterre prosecution has just issued an international arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosn. Prosecuted on suspicion of financial embezzlement, the former boss of the Renault Nissan Alliance has been in Lebanon since he fled Japan where he was arrested.
At the beginning of 2020, having just managed to escape from Japan to Lebanon before his trial for tax evasion and alleged financial embezzlement at Nissan, Carlos Ghosn had denied the facts through the media, saying he had fled the archipelago for fear of justice. biased. Since then, the former big boss of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance defends himself in various ways, until the broadcast of a “confession” report based on interviews with him and his wife on TMC on April 5. latest. It was perhaps the output of too much for the French justice. The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office has just issued an international arrest warrant against the Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian entrepreneur. This is in addition to the red notice published by Interpol in early 2020, probably at the request of Japan.
“Suspicious” transactions
The investigation by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office does not relate directly to the accusations made by Nissan, but to possible abuse of corporate assets and money laundering. More precisely, it relates to nearly 15 million euros in “suspicious” payments by RNBV, the Dutch subsidiary of the Alliance, to its distributor SBA (Suhail Bahwan Automobiles) based in Oman. In addition to the one designating Carlos Ghosn, four other arrest warrants have been issued and target ” the current owners or former managers of the Omani company SBA “according to the prosecution.
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Ghosn banned from leaving Lebanon
The judicial investigation of the Nanterre prosecutor’s office concerning Carlos Ghosn was opened in February 2020. Since then, French magistrates have traveled twice to Lebanon to interview various witnesses. They notably spoke there with the businessman for five days. Lebanese justice had banned Ghosn from leaving the country shortly before. Jean Tamalet, one of Carlos Ghosn’s lawyers, said: This is not an arrest warrant issued by France but by the Nanterre court during an ongoing investigation. (…) This mandate is very surprising because the investigating judge and the Nanterre prosecutor know perfectly well that Carlos Ghosn, who has always cooperated with justice, is subject to a judicial ban on leaving Lebanese territory. The Carlos Ghosn affair has not finished talking about it. A series about him is in preparation.
Sources: AFP via France Info
