Carlos Ghosn arrested

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If I hadn't cancelled my deposit on a Leaf back in June to go with a competitor's, I would have done it now. I feel sorry for all the workers that will lose their jobs but I certainly could not encourage these people by sending them any money.
This whole situation is truly shocking and I see no reason for having the slightest doubt about it being true.
 
Domenick, your link takes me to a paywall screen. But thanks for trying!

From the New York Times: "Renault and Nissan Try a New Way After Years When Carlos Ghosn Ruled"

But this is more directly related to what I presume Domenick is talking about:

From the Asia Times: "Meek Nissan ‘won’t dispute’ $22mn Ghosn-case fine"

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I've made it pretty clear from my first post on this subject that I'm appalled at how the Japanese "justice system" seems to have done a terrible injustice to Carlos Ghosn here, so I admit I'm rather biased about the subject. I therefore realize that I may be guilty of confirmation bias or "silo thinking", but a viewpoint summarizing the situation from the article I linked above seems -- to me, at least -- to be worth reporting here. Quoting directly from the article:

Says a veteran foreign lawyer in Japan who asks not to be named:

There is no way the ENTIRE management did not know the circumstances of Ghosn’s alleged illegal behavior. And if they knew about it, given compliance rules now in place on a company like Nissan, there is NO way these arrangements cannot have been approved by various accounting and finance staff, compliance staff, general affairs staff and statutory auditors, not to mention the outside director’s committee that under the new rules is supposed to approve executive compensation. On the day I heard the news of Ghosn’s arrest (and I have never been either a Ghosn fan or a Ghosn detractor), I [concluded] that there simply was not any way that that kind of financial misfeasance, certainly not on that scale, could get past the gauntlets of compliance mechanisms that have been set up…. I have not changed an iota in my conclusions regarding that.
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Thanks for the update. It'll be interesting to see if he was released or fled Japan.

Apparently Ghosn is scheduled to hold a press conference soon. This will be interesting.
 
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The details that are coming out now are pretty extraordinary.

According to the Guardian, he hired a security company to help get him out. I'm reading they came to his house under the pretense of being some sort of Gregorian band that would play during a special dinner. Then, Ghosn was put into one of their instrument cases and spirited away. It's unclear how he made it through airport security, but apparently it's a small airport, so maybe international flights weren't expected to depart from there (which would indicate they filed a false flight plan described as well). It seems he first flew to Turkey and then on to Lebanon. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan

According to Bloomberg's reporting, he's not staying at his residence and has already met with the country's president.
 
This is definitely "TV movie of the week" material!

Gotta admire the guy for succeeding at escaping from house arrest to a friendly country with no extradition treaty with Japan. (And again, I make no pretense at being unbiased regarding this drama.)
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Under Japan's criminal code, a trial cannot be held if the accused fails to appear in court, except for certain petty crimes.
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This is interesting. Ghosn may never be convicted of a crime.
 
One of the comments to the InsideEVs news story about this drama claims that only the U.S. and S. Korea have extradition treaties with Japan. If true, Mr. Ghosn has all of Europe in which to retire! That would be a pretty comfortable "exile". That is, he could retire there if he doesn't want to stay in his native Lebanon.

Next question: How much of his savings will he be able to keep? I presume his retirement package from Nissan is gone. But will Renault be willing to give him a pension? Seems like they ought to.
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Other than the 13.4 million bond, and the million or so he payed the SEC, I expect he'll be able to keep the rest of his money. How much that is I do not no.

Because there is no criminal conviction he should be eligible to all agreed benefits from Renault, Nissan and the alliance.
 
gooki said:
Other than the 13.4 million bond, and the million or so he payed the SEC, I expect he'll be able to keep the rest of his money. How much that is I do not no.

Because there is no criminal conviction he should be eligible to all agreed benefits from Renault, Nissan and the alliance.
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Maybe with a slight increase in "Export tax" :D
 
Apparently, Ghosn is being considered for a position in the Lebanese government -- the freshly elected prime minister just happens to be picking a cabinet right and Ghosn is being considered for the Ministry of Industry, which would give him immunity. That could come in handy, considering Interpol has put out a warrant for his arrest.

One interesting bit clarifying the big escape. According to his wife, he wasn't spirited from the house inside a box.

Another interesting bit in the Japanese news (NHK) mentions that the Lebanese government had asked Japan for Ghosn's return 10 days before the escape. They deny, of course, that they had anything to do with the abscondment.

Meanwhile in Turkey, 7 people have been "detained" in connection to the incident, including 4 pilots.
 
Here is the real tragedy: All these executives, officials and politicians (Not just Goshn or the President of Nissan, but the Boards, investors and even the Government of France and Japan, who all looked the other way for years) have lost sight of what they are doing to Nissan and the other stakeholders. No one wants to acknowledge what havoc that this made for "Netflix Soap Opera" is doing to Nissan's costumers, employees, suppliers etc. Nissan is into EVs, guess how much management attention it will get now? This headline sums it up


https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...e-nissan-is-world-s-worst-performing-carmaker


Unlike Ghosn, Nissan Can’t Escape Its Problems

The real mission impossible is turning around a carmaker that’s still losing credibility. It’s a long road back.

The Houdini-esque escape by Carlos Ghosn from his court-monitored Tokyo residence may be shrouded in intrigue, but one thing has been left in plain sight: A turnaround at Nissan Motor Co. won’t happen any time soon. Whatever he has to say from his refuge in Lebanon will be largely inconsequential for the Japanese car company.

Nissan is in a state of disrepair, and was so even before its globe-trotting former chairman (and ex-chief executive of Renault SA) was dethroned over a year ago amid allegations that included under-reporting his income in securities filings and making personal use of company assets.
 
According to people familiar with the matter, Ghosn was alone when he left his house in Tokyo's Minato Ward, where he was staying as part of his bail conditions. He then boarded the Tokaido Shinkansen at a Tokyo station and traveled to Shin-Osaka Station.

He stayed at a hotel near the airport, boarded a private jet the following day, and flew to Lebanon via Turkey.
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Sounds like Ghosn just walked out of Japan.
 
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