Prosecutors in Turkey have charged seven people who helped ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan in December.
The BBC reports that prosecutors have charged four pilots, two flight attendants, and an airline executive that were behind the brazen escape. The pilots and airline executive have been charged with “migrant smuggling” while the other crew has been charged with failing to report a crime. The suspects were arrested on January 2.
On December 29 last year, Ghosn fled from Japan believing he would not receive a fair trial. In a manner more typical of a Hollywood movie than the life of an auto exec, Ghosn left his house in Tokyo and jumped on a train for the 300-mile journey to Osaka’s Kansai International Airport.
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It is then understood that he was loaded into a private jet inside a wheeled black case ordinarily used to transport show equipment for musicians. Carlos Ghosn was first flown to Dubai before being transferred to a second private jet and taken to Beirut, Lebanon.
Turkish airline company MNG Jet has said that two of its aircraft had been used in the escape illegally and has filed a criminal complaint over the incident.
In February, Nissan filed a civil lawsuit against Ghosn seeking an extraordinary 10 billion yen ($91.1 million / €83.7 million) in damages. Nissan says the financial compensation it is seeking is linked to Ghosn’s alleged breach of fiduciary duty as a company director and his claimed misappropriation of the company’s resources and assets.
