Ghosn Used Public Transport to Escape From Tokyo, NTV Says
The former Nissan Motor & Renault head took a bullet train around 4:30 p.m. local time on Dec. 29 from Tokyo’s Shinagawa station.
(Bloomberg) -- Carlos Ghosn used public transportation to get from Tokyo to Osaka before boarding a private jet in his escape to Lebanon, broadcaster NTV reported, citing sources involved in the investigation.
The former head of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA took a bullet train around 4:30 p.m. local time on Dec. 29 from Tokyo’s Shinagawa station, according to the report. He then took a taxi from Shin-Osaka station and stayed at a hotel near Kansai Airport, it said.
A spokesman for Central Japan Railway Co., a bullet train operator connecting Tokyo and Osaka, said he doesn’t have any information to confirm the report.
Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 on charges of financial crimes and had been out on bail as he awaited trial that was scheduled to start this year. He flew via Istanbul to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, which doesn’t have an extradition agreement with Japan. Ghosn, who holds Lebanese citizenship, is due to hold a press conference on Wednesday to provide his version of events.
A security camera captured Ghosn leaving his Tokyo residence alone around noon on the day of his escape, public broadcaster NHK reported last week, citing people involved in the investigation. Inspectors at Kansai Airport didn’t conduct X-ray checks on large cases that were brought aboard the jet on which Ghosn is thought to have made his getaway, according to reports.
--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Tokyo at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Will Davies, Jeff Sutherland
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