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Reuters
Reuters
Business
Ezgi Erkoyun and Makiko Yamazaki

Ghosn used our jets illegally in escape from Japan, Turkish company says

FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chariman Carlos Ghosn leaves the Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo, Japan April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

A Turkish private jet operator said on Friday that ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn used two of its planes illegally in his escape from Japan, with an employee falsifying lease records to exclude his name from the documents.

MNG Jet said it had filed a criminal complaint over the incident, a day after Turkish police detained seven people, including four pilots, as part of an investigation into Ghosn's passage through Istanbul en route to Lebanon.

FILE PHOTO: TC-TSR, a private jet which was used during the escape of ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon through Turkey is pictured in an unknown location, July 5, 2019. COURTESY ALP AKBOSTANCI/via REUTERS

Ghosn has become an international fugitive after he revealed on Tuesday he had fled to Lebanon to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system in Japan, where he faces charges relating to alleged financial crimes.

Lebanon on Thursday received an Interpol arrest warrant for Ghosn, whose surprise escape from his home in Tokyo to a separate home in Beirut has not been fully explained.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the diminutive Ghosn slipped out of Japan aboard a private jet hidden in a large black case typically used to carry audio gear. He was accompanied by a pair of men with names matching those of American security contractors, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with Turkey's probe into the escape.

FILE PHOTO: TC-RZA, a private jet which was used during the escape of ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn from Japan to Lebanon through Turkey, is pictured in an unknown location, May 20, 2016. COURTESY YIGIT CICEKCI/via REUTERS

Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing investigative sources, said a surveillance camera captured the former Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> chairman leaving his Tokyo residence alone shortly before his escape.

The security footage was taken by a camera installed at his house in central Tokyo around noon on Sunday, and the camera did not show him returning home, NHK said.

By early Monday, he had touched down in Istanbul.

FILE PHOTO: Carlos Ghosn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Renault, attends the company's annual shareholders meeting in La Defense business district, near Paris, April 29, 2008. French carmaker Renault sticks to its target of a 2008 operating profit margin of 4.5 percent, despite a weaker dollar and pound and a faster than forecast rise in raw material prices, Ghosn told the annual general meeting. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

MNG Jet said in its statement it leased two jets to two different clients in agreements that "were seemingly not connected to each other." One plane flew from Osaka to Istanbul, the other from Istanbul to Beirut.

"The name of Mr Ghosn did not appear in the official documentation of any of the flights," it said.

"After having learnt through the media that the leasing was benefiting Mr. Ghosn and not the officially declared passengers, MNG Jet launched an internal inquiry and filed a criminal complaint in Turkey," it added.

FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn sits inside a car as he leaves his lawyer's office after being released on bail from Tokyo Detention House, in Tokyo, Japan, March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

An employee admitted to falsifying the records and confirmed he "acted in his individual capacity," the company said.

The pilots and other detainees, including two airport ground staff and one cargo worker, were sent to court on Friday after giving statements to police, according to a Reuters witness.

Late on Friday the court ruled to formally arrest five of the suspects, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. The other two suspects were released from custody, according to media reports.

FILE PHOTO: Former Nissan Motor Chariman Carlos Ghosn leaves the Tokyo Detention House in Tokyo, Japan April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

Turkish interior ministry spokesman Ismail Catakli told reporters earlier on Friday that Ghosn was believed to have been transferred through the cargo section of the airport in Istanbul, but did not provide further details.

Ghosn has said he will speak publicly about his escape on Jan. 8.

Some Lebanese media, in reports similar to the Wall Street Journal, have floated a Houdini-like account of Ghosn being packed in a wooden container for musical instruments after a private concert in his home, but his wife has called the account "fiction".

NHK said police suspected Ghosn may have left his home to meet up with someone before heading to an airport. Under the terms of his bail, Ghosn was required to have security cameras installed at the entrance of his house.

(Writing by Jonathan Spicer and Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan, Jon Boyle and Tom Brown)

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