Prosecutors in Istanbul have charged seven individuals - four pilots, two flight attendants, and the representative of an unnamed airline company - for allegedly assisting Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Osaka, Japan to Beirut via Turkey late last year. The former Nissan executive fled Japan following claims of financial misconduct, which he denies, and has called the justice system in Japan "rigged" and said he was being held "hostage" there.
The pilots and the executive have been charged with "migrant smuggling", while the cabin crew face charges of failing to report a crime, according to the Anadolu Agency and Associated Press.
As previously reported, in early January the Turkish business charter MNG Jet (Istanbul Airport) claimed that the former Nissan chairman had used two of its aircraft illegally during his dramatic getaway on December 29, one for each leg of the journey.
The company alleged that an employee falsified records to exclude Ghosn’s name from documents and filed a criminal complaint because of the incident.
Prosecutors have now completed an indictment against the seven, the details of which have not been made available, and a date for a trial will be set as soon as a court in Istanbul’s Bakırköy district formally accepts the indictment.
The precise details of the escape are still not clear, but Nippon Television Network reported that Ghosn caught a Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo, getting off at Osaka. According to the Guardian newspaper, he later boarded a Bombardier Business Aircraft Challenger bound for Beirut, where he arrived before dawn on December 30.
Turkish police detained the suspects on January 2, the BBC reported. The company employee and the pilots remain in custody, but the flight attendants were released after questioning. All of the suspects have been identified only by their initials.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in Japan have issued arrest warrants for Ghosn and three Americans whom they claim collaborated in the escape. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon and the Middle Eastern country has already said it will not hand Ghosn over.
