Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn may have escaped house arrest in double bass case
There's a global investigation underway into how Carlos Ghosn, a prominent businessman, escaped from house arrest in Tokyo. The former Nissan chairman was being held on financial misconduct charges when he fled Japan and ended up in his native Lebanon.
Ghosn flew from Japan through Istanbul on a private jet and then on to Lebanon where friends say he's holed up in a house in Beirut, CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports.
"There are claims that he escaped with a band who was playing in his building at the time, that he hid in a double bass case," said Shawn Tully, Fortune Magazine senior editor-at-large.
Ghosn was a titan in car manufacturing. CEO of both Nissan in Japan and Renault in France, he was considered a visionary until 2018 when Japanese authorities arrested him for financial misconduct.
The affair grew into a scandal in Japan which hurt both Nissan's brand and its business. Meanwhile, Ghosn had posted more than $8 million in bail and was waiting for his trial in Tokyo, under video surveillance with no access to computers or his passports.
Ghosn's lawyer told reporters he was dumbfounded by his client's escape. But Ghosn had made it clear he didn't trust the Japanese courts.
"The argument that he's been making is that he's getting an unfair trial, he's been mistreated, he's been denied access to his wife," Tully said.
Beirut appears to be a safe haven for Ghosn, who's from a Lebanese family. In Lebanon, he is admired as a local boy who became very successful.
Interpol has issued a request for the Lebanese police to arrest Ghosn, but so far there's been no action on that request.
Ghosn's lawyers announced that he'll hold a news conference in Beirut next Wednesday.
