Ghosn Escapes!

[wangta]

In a country with a 21st century justice system I wouldn't cheer on Chuckie's escape. But fuck me, his case showed the world what we know already - Japan's Edo style guilty because accused, now let's hold you without charges and force a signed confession out of you deserves nothing but contempt for these J cunts pretending to be part of a democracy.

Run Chuckie run. The Japanese cunts also do it to their own - just today read a mainichi shinbun article about how an intellectually disabled young woman was held for over I year in detention cause she set fire to her own family home, a fire that aint killed anybody.

This was in Aomori and those inbred cunts of police and courts fucking dare to pretend they have a job to do in the 21st century while behaving like backward scum from Edo period. These lowlives left this disabled person worse than when she went in - shows you what a shitty apology for a 1st world 'democracy' Japan is. Her parents are not young and it was and is also horrible for them.

I thought Reiwa Shinsengumi was more like a publicity stunt but reading about this case made me realize how much Japan's fascist, torturing cunts connected to law enforcement and the courts need to be accountable.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Hmm, facing up to 15 years in prison in Lebanon.

Looks like the Japanese bribing machine has already started rotating. A thing, they are obviously a lot better at than keeping en eye on Ghosn

[matsuki]

Hmm, facing up to 15 years in prison in Lebanon.

Looks like the Japanese bribing machine has already started rotating. A thing, they are obviously a lot better at than keeping en eye on Ghosn

We'll see if he gets locked up BEFORE his announced media stunt.

[Taro Toporific]

Keystone-cops.gif

It's not a Bond spy drama, it's Austin Powers Meets the Keystone Cops!

Japanese court checked Ghosn's 24/7 surveillance video just once a month
The Japan Times | 2020/01/04
Nissan’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who skipped bail and turned up in Lebanon, was last seen on surveillance video leaving his Tokyo home alone, presumably to board his getaway plane.
Although the security cameras at his home were on 24 hours, the footage was only required to be submitted to the court once a month, on the 15th...
More laughs...

[Russell]

OK, so Ghosn didn't have an electronic tag, even though he offered to wear one.

And they allowed him to keep one French passport in a locked case that could be easily smashed. I wonder why they did not issue a Resident Card for Foreigners to him, because it seems he lived in Japan. With that he could've traveled inside Japan, and he would not have needed his passport. It is just unbelievable how stupid the Japanese authorities were.

[Taro Toporific]

...did not issue a Resident Card for Foreigners to him...With that he could've traveled inside Japan, and he would not have needed his passport. It is just unbelievable how stupid the Japanese authorities were.

This sounds like a Trump level of stoopid.
A better guess is that these "mistakes" were intentional.

[Grumpy Gramps]

...intentional...

Thought crossed my mind, too. They just might not have enough evidence to justify the long time, Ghosn was under arrest already, let alone make him rot in jail for even longer. This way, the problem just "goes away" (literally). Would be a very Japanese "solution" to a potentially embarrassing conundrum.

And Trump kind of stoopid is now socially acceptable, or so I've heard.

[Russell]

...intentional...

Thought crossed my mind, too. They just might not have enough evidence to justify the long time, Ghosn was under arrest already, let alone make him rot in jail for even longer. This way, the problem just "goes away" (literally). Would be a very Japanese "solution" to a potentially embarrassing conundrum.

And Trump kind of stoopid is now socially acceptable, or so I've heard.

I do think they did not have sufficient evidence to justify his long detention.

But I find it hard to believe that they let him go intentionally, because that would involve some lost faces. Now Ghosn is gone, wouldn't they have his trial in absentia? If they cancel his trial, there is a chance that it is intentional.

[Russell]

Carlos Ghosn Was Aided in Flight From Japan by Former Green Beret

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn was aided in his escape from Japan by an American security consultant who accompanied him on the flight out of the country, a person familiar with the matter said, while a Turkish charter jet company said on Friday that its planes were used illegally to pull off the plan.

The Japanese news media also reported on Friday that surveillance camera footage showed the disgraced auto industry mogul leaving his Tokyo home by himself on Sunday, a day before he turned up in Beirut, Lebanon.

With the new details, a clearer — if still imperfect — picture is emerging of how Mr. Ghosn, Japan’s most prominent criminal defendant, managed to evade authorities. The American consultant, a former United States Green Beret named Michael Taylor, was introduced to the disgraced auto executive by Lebanese intermediaries months ago, said the person, who asked not to be identified to discuss a sensitive issue.

Turkish media outlets have reported that Mr. Taylor and another American were the only people listed as passengers on a manifest for the flight that carried Mr. Ghosn from Japan to Turkey. On Friday, MNG Jet, an aircraft charter company, said one of its employees had falsified records to remove Mr. Ghosn’s name from the official documentation for two flights.

Taken together, the disclosures paint a picture of a dash across Japan to a waiting plane. Still, most of the details of his getaway remain unconfirmed by authorities in Japan, Turkey or Lebanon.

[...]

Mr. Taylor, a former member of an Army Special Forces team, works as a security consultant. He was once hired by The New York Times to assist in the rescue of David Rohde, then a Times reporter, who was kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan and held for seven months in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Mr. Rohde ultimately escaped on his own in June 2009.

Mr. Taylor was indicted in 2012 for his role in a plan to obstruct a federal fraud investigation into bid rigging of Defense Department contracts. He served time in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud, but the government returned $2 million that had been taken from him, as well as two Land Rovers, according to court records.

Mr. Taylor’s involvement in Mr. Ghosn’s escape was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The news accounts of Mr. Ghosn’s flight match the records of a Bombardier business aircraft operated by MNG Jet that took off from Osaka just after 11 p.m. local time and landed in Istanbul about 12 hours later, according to data from FlightAware, a flight tracking service.

MNG Jet said it had no indication the two flights were connected. It said that it filed a criminal complaint in Turkey on Wednesday and that it “hopes that the people who illegally used and/or facilitated the use of the services of the company will be duly prosecuted.”

The company said the employee who falsified flight records had confessed to acting alone, without management’s knowledge. MNG Jet did not disclose the employee’s name.

Five people — four pilots and MNG Jet’s operations manager — were sent to pretrial detention by a Turkish court, according to local media reports, and an official at the ground services provider Havas said prosecutors had released two of its employees.

The jet company has also transported gold out of Venezuela, helping the government there in its efforts to raise cash, according to Caracas Capital, an investment bank that has been tracking the gold shipments. The movement of MNG’s jets through Venezuela were confirmed by online flight trackers.

MNG is the “go-to company if you want to have something done,” said Russ Dallen, the managing partner at Caracas Capital.

The five people detained in Istanbul were charged with smuggling an undocumented migrant, Turkish news agencies reported on Saturday. MNG Jet’s operations manager, who was identified by local media outlets as Okan Kosemen, told investigators that he had been asked to help in an important international matter by a former contact in Beirut and that he and his family had been threatened if he did not comply, according to state-run news agencies.

It is not clear how Mr. Ghosn, who was under heavy surveillance in Tokyo, eluded the authorities and make his way to Osaka, which is roughly 300 miles west of Tokyo.

In Japan on Friday, news outlets reported that Mr. Ghosn walked out of his Tokyo home alone on Sunday but never came back. The news reports cited anonymous sources with knowledge of footage of the cameras surrounding his rented house in a central district of the city.

Prosecutors are investigating whether Mr. Ghosn, after leaving his home, met up with a group that helped his escape to Lebanon, according to the national broadcaster NHK and the economic daily Nikkei Shimbun.

The footage described in the news reports was from security cameras installed in front of the two-story house in the city center, the outlets reported. Three surveillance cameras had been installed above the doorway of Mr. Ghosn’s house as part of a bail agreement that placed tight restrictions on his movements.

On Saturday, Turkey’s justice minister, Abdulhamit Gul, said in a television interview on Saturday morning that two foreigners had been involved in the incident.

Mr. Gul added that Turkish prosecutors would continue with their investigation. “There is no judicial request from the Japanese authorities yet,” he said.

More

Details becoming juicier and juicier.

So, he left his home around noon on 29 December, and took off from Kansai Airport at 23:00. That leaves an 11 hour gap, which is enough to travel by car from Tokyo to Osaka. I'm sure Ghosn didn't take the Shinkansen...

Edit: links anonimized

[Russell]

Ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has a god complex: Former GM vice chairman

In this video the documentary "Revenge of the electric car" is mentioned and it is asserted that Ghosn behaves imperious in it.

After watching I don't know, to be honest. I guess everybody has to judge by themselves. What I noted is that at the end of the fragment of Ghosn the following text appeared.

Carlos Ghosn was recently asked to run GM. He declined.

Could it be sour grapes from GM?

[Coligny]

How have you been Coligny? long time... for both of us I see

Few rust spots here and there but overall at full capacitiz.

0913E1EC-1F68-4C4E-BAE6-9522E0822E95.jpeg

Sort of...

[Coligny]

Carlos Ghosn was recently asked to run GM. He declined.

Could it be sour grapes from GM?

Hem... Obama, asked Ghosn to takeover GM...

Obama sought Ghosn to run GM, Rattner says - Automotive News
Sep 3, 2010 · The Obama Administration initially wanted Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn to run GM after Rick Wagoner was ousted in 2009, and repeatedly pressed Fiat to put up cash for a stake in Chrysler

Press conference expected on Wednesday through LCI french news tv channel.

[matsuki]

...intentional...

Thought crossed my mind, too. They just might not have enough evidence to justify the long time, Ghosn was under arrest already, let alone make him rot in jail for even longer. This way, the problem just "goes away" (literally). Would be a very Japanese "solution" to a potentially embarrassing conundrum.

And Trump kind of stoopid is now socially acceptable, or so I've heard.

I do think they did not have sufficient evidence to justify his long detention.

But I find it hard to believe that they let him go intentionally, because that would involve some lost faces. Now Ghosn is gone, wouldn't they have his trial in absentia? If they cancel his trial, there is a chance that it is intentional.

On one hand, the brain dead level of surveillance here is hilariously "We Japanese" plausible....but on the other hand, I can see the powers that be deciding this is a better alternative to dropping the case or following through with such a high profile case that was looking more and more uncertain. The Japanese spokeshole is talmbout Ghosn as if he was already tried and convicted of crimes. (Remember, one of the multiple arrests was for shit beyond the statute of limitations with the reasoning time he spent outside Japan doesn't count) This way, Japan can continue to finger wag without having to back up any of the charges filed against him. No admission of wrongdoing, act like nothing was wrong, suck teeth and move on. (I'm pretty sure the case won't proceed without Ghosn in Japan)

Guilty or not, I hope his media scrum on Wednesday ultimately results in enough pressure for some legit modernization of the Japanese legal system/procedures. The timing couldn't be better....Tokyo 2020!!

[Russell]

OK, I said it...

So, he left his home around noon on 29 December, and took off from Kansai Airport at 23:00. That leaves an 11 hour gap, which is enough to travel by car from Tokyo to Osaka. I'm sure Ghosn didn't take the Shinkansen...

Carlos Ghosn 'caught bullet train' during escape from Japan

Reports have emerged about how the fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn managed to jump bail in Japan, as the country’s justice minister said border controls would be bolstered after the audacious escape.

The 65-year-old executive skipped bail nearly a week ago, fleeing Japan where he had been awaiting trial on multiple counts of financial misconduct, which he denies.

The details of his escape remain sketchy, with Japan saying it is still investigating how he managed to slip past strict security measures imposed as part of his bail conditions.

Citing people involved in the investigation, Nippon Television Network (NTV) reported on Monday that Ghosn had boarded a Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo’s Shinagawa station on 29 December.

He got off at a station in western Osaka, arriving about 7.30pm, and took a taxi to a hotel near Kansai airport, NTV said.

He is thought to have taken a private jet the same day from the airport, bound for Istanbul, where he switched planes and continued to Beirut.

Local media reported last week that Ghosn had been caught on a security camera leaving his Tokyo home by himself at around noon on 29 December.

The exact circumstances of his flight from Japan remain shrouded in mystery.

The justice ministry said it did not have a record of Ghosn leaving Japan. “It is believed that he used some wrongful methods to illegally leave the country,” the justice minister, Masako Mori, said at a press conference on Monday.

“I have instructed the immigration agency to further tighten the departure process,” she added.
Carlos Ghosn: an arrest, an escape, and questions about justice in Japan

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Ghosn was loaded on to the flight from Osaka in a large audio equipment case, which was later found at the back of the cabin.

The newspaper cited unnamed sources close to the investigation in Turkey as saying that holes had been drilled into the bottom of the container to ensure the businessman could breathe.

Japan’s transport ministry told AFP that luggage checks were not mandatory for private jets.

“Operators of private jets decide if luggage checks are necessary or not while airline operators are obliged to conduct security checks under Japan’s aviation law,” a ministry official said.

“The security checks are carried out to prevent danger such as bombs, and to prevent hijacks,” he said, adding such risks were considered less likely for private jets.

[...]

Japan has launched an investigation into the humiliating security lapse, with prosecutors saying they would “coordinate with the relevant agencies to swiftly and appropriately investigate the matter”.

Ghosn has vowed to give his own account at an eagerly anticipated press conference in Beirut this week.

More

Pretty bold move!

So, some green beret bought him a Shinkansen ticket and a false beard, and reserved a hotel room for him near Kansai airport. In there they put him in the box, and off he went...

Pretty smart. In this way, they would not leave much of a trace, because a rental car is way riskier. I guess the green beret didn't wear his green beret during the operation, and neither did he lend it to Ghosn...

[Grumpy Gramps]

And all the thousands of people on the shink/in the stations/hotel didn't recognize Ghosn because "all gaijin look alike?" Pretty risky move. More must be to this, I think.

[Russell]

And all the thousands of people on the shink/in the stations/hotel didn't recognize Ghosn because "all gaijin look alike?" Pretty risky move. More must be to this, I think.

In hindsight I think Ghosn did wear his green beret, but most people thought it couldn't be Ghosn, because he was wearing a green beret, which is unusual.

[Mike Oxlong]

Any suggestions for a press conference drinking game tomorrow at 22:00? Any time hostage justice is spoken, have a shot. Corporate coup, that's another. Others...?

[yanpa]

And all the thousands of people on the shink/in the stations/hotel didn't recognize Ghosn because "all gaijin look alike?" Pretty risky move. More must be to this, I think.

So you see a non-Japanese person who may look a bit like the ゴーン chappie who was on the TV a lot a while back? Are you sure it's ゴーン, and are very familiar with his bail terms etc. and immediately able to jump to the conclusion that this is the ゴーン who is breaking those terms and is about to do a runner and therefore you should go to the trouble of calling the police? It's not like it was all over the news that he was AWOL or anything.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Not sure, how familiar the typical nosy baa-chan is with the case/face; I didn't talk about it within my J-mishpoche. Though the shink is a trap; once you're in there, you are committed; there is no plan B.

[Mike Oxlong]

Not sure, how familiar the typical nosy baa-chan is with the case/face; I didn't talk about it within my J-mishpoche. Though the shink is a trap; once you're in there, you are committed; there is no plan B.

I dunno. He was permitted trips up to two nights away from his residence before he needed to get special permission, so if noticed and questioned he could simply make some excuse about sightseeing or visiting someone. The Shink is so crowded during the season that the average traveler and the conductors are too harried to pay attention to much.

[Grumpy Gramps]

I wonder, if anyone will stream the press conference later on YouTube et al

[Mike Oxlong]

I wonder, if anyone will stream the press conference later on YouTube et al

I've got CNBC queued up on YouTube for the live broadcast, and a bottle of Sortilege whisky.

[Taro Toporific]

I wonder, if anyone will stream the press conference later on YouTube et al

I've got CNBC queued up on YouTube for the live broadcast, and a bottle of Sortilege whisky.

He is on live! But the intro was all in Arabic. Now Chuckie is speaking English and little in French.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4KH7_T ... e=emb_logo

[Russell]

Live stream here!

[Mike Oxlong]

First hostage justice! Chug!! Save face. Another slug...Oh, Pearl Harbor. That's a double.

[Russell]

My first impression is that Ghosn is credible in his presentation.

I am not convinced that he is completely innocent, but for sure the way he was treated does not appear fair. The Japanese justice system comes across as pretty fucked. Thing is that Saikawa was just as guilty of financial misconduct, but they did not prosecute him.

But let's see how this all works out. Ghosn was smart enough to not mention Japanese political officials involved, but he appeared to imply that if they do not back off, he will mention their names.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Thanks for the links to the stream! I think, he was very well prepared and laid out his case just right.

I don't think that he is any more of a "cold, greedy dictator" or crook than any other CEO of a large corporation, who currently sits in not jail.

And the Japanese only put another nail in their own moral coffin by issuing an arrest warrant for Ghosn's wife a day before the press conference. You can't go much lower than that.

[Russell]

Carlos Ghosn issued travel ban in Lebanon after Interpol warrant

Japan has hit back at Carlos Ghosn after the former Nissan boss’s criticisms of the country’s justice system after his dramatic escape to Lebanon, as Beirut prosecutors issued a travel ban for the fugitive.

Masako Mori, Japan’s justice minister, on Thursday accused Ghosn of making “abstract, unclear or baseless assertions” about the Japanese criminal justice system, and said his flight was unjustified.

Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for Ghosn after an Interpol red notice requesting his arrest, the Associated Press reported. Ghosn, who headed both Nissan and Renault before his arrest, was also questioned by the authorities in Lebanon over a 2008 visit to Israel, deemed an enemy of the Lebanese state, for the French carmaker.

[...]

His escape, despite supposed constant supervision, has left Tokyo scrambling to respond. It has also put a spotlight on Japan’s justice system, which has been criticised as heavy-handed and unfair by human rights groups.

In a second statement on Ghosn within 24 hours, Mori said descriptions of “hostage justice” were “off the mark”.

She defended Japan’s 99% conviction rate, saying prosecutors only brought cases where they were almost certain of success. The system was designed “to avoid an innocent person to suffer from the burden of bearing judicial expenses”, Mori said. “The basic human rights of a suspect are duly taken into account by giving adequate break to the suspect during the interrogation.”

More

May not go completely according to Ghosn's plan. Any boxes and green berets for rent over there in Lebanon?

[Grumpy Gramps]

Any boxes and green berets for rent over there in Lebanon?

Sure, if you're rich enough, everything goes; you can even get justice, if you want it, while Joe Gaijin with an empty bank account is SOL.

[matsuki]

Well, seems as Ghosn has at least some evidence to back up his claims of innocence. May be more gray than black and white in some areas. My guess whatever he is guilty of should result in nothing more than fines. The forever detention bullshit and keeping him from his wife is ridiculous.

And the Japanese only put another nail in their own moral coffin by issuing an arrest warrant for Ghosn's wife a day before the press conference. You can't go much lower than that.

This is just insane....my guess here is they need some reason to keep her out of Japan in case she comes back to retrieve anything.