Lebanon issues travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Lebanese prosecutors have issued a travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and asked him to hand in his French passport following an Interpol-issued notice against him&comma; a judicial official said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The travel ban comes after Ghosn was interrogated by prosecutors for nearly two hours over the notice about the charges he faces in Japan over alleged financial misconduct&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The prosecutors also formally asked Japanese authorities for their file on the charges against Ghosn in order to review the case&comma; the official said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lebanon last week received the Interpol-issued wanted notice&comma; which is a non-binding request to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the hearing&comma; Ghosn was asked to provide an address he resides at in Lebanon and was banned from travelling out of the country&comma; the official said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was also asked to hand in his French passport&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was not immediately clear what legal procedures would follow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads2--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty&comma; and the Interpol notice does not require that Lebanese authorities arrest him&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The authorities say Ghosn entered Lebanon on a valid passport&comma; casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Interpol cannot compel Lebanon to arrest Ghosn and it will be up to the local law enforcement authorities to decide what to do&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On his first public appearance since he fled Japan&comma; Ghosn on Wednesday criticised the Japanese justice system&comma; accusing it of violating his basic rights and disputing all allegations against him as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;untrue and baseless”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He told a press conference in Beirut that he does not trust that he would have a fair trial in Japan but said he was ready to face justice anywhere else&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;147571" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-147571" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-147571" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;01&sol;DBC8F4E0-C379-4405-954B-C5DD6864CAC7&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"404" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-147571" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Carlos Abou Jaoude&comma; a lawyer for Carlos Ghosn&comma; leaves the judicial palace where Ghosn was questioned by a Lebanese prosecutor in Beirut<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Ghosn&comma; a French&comma; Lebanese and Brazilian national&comma; showed up in Lebanon on December 30&comma; after an audacious and improbable escape from surveillance in Japan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads3--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lebanese officials said he entered legally&comma; with a French passport and a Lebanese identification card&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While a travel ban restricts Ghosn’s movement&comma; it also offers him a degree of protection by Lebanese authorities who would presumably ensure he complies with the ban&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>France also does not have an extradition treaty with Japan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the official&comma; Ghosn was also interrogated on a separate report against him over a 2008 visit to Israel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lebanon and Israel are technically at war&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>No decision was taken regarding this case&comma; which according to Lebanese law can be punishable by between one and 10 years in jail&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads4--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two Lebanese lawyers submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office saying the trip violated Lebanese law&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The violation may not be prosecutable&comma; given that it happened 12 years earlier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A famous Lebanese director who also carries a French passport and who was questioned over the same violation in 2017 was not prosecuted because the visit was three years prior&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ghosn’s lawyer Carlos Abou Jaoude confirmed that his client was questioned in the two separate cases – the Interpol notice and the Israel trip&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He told reporters Ghosn was confident in the Lebanese judicial system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At Wednesday’s press conference&comma; Ghosn apologised to the Lebanese&comma; saying he never wished to offend anyone when he travelled to Israel as a French national after Nissan asked him to announce the launch of electric cars there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ad-container"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Tokyo prosecutors&comma; who arrested him in late 2018&comma; said Ghosn had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;only himself to blame” for the four-month-long detention and for the strict bail conditions that followed&comma; such as being banned from seeing his wife&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Defendant Ghosn was deemed a high-profile risk&comma; which is obvious from the fact that he actually fled&comma;” they said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ghosn thanked the Lebanese authorities for their hospitality and defended its judicial system&comma; which has long faced accusations of corruption and favouritism&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said he would be ready to stand trial &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;anywhere where I think I can have a fair trial”&period; He declined to say where that might be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With big gestures and a five-part slide presentation&comma; Ghosn brought his case to the global media in a performance that at times resembled a corporate presentation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Combative&comma; spirited and at times rambling&comma; he described conditions of detention in Japan that made him feel &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;dead … like an animal” in a country where he asserted he had &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;zero chance” of a fair trial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ad-container">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"div-gpt-ad-incontent-6"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>He said he was held in solitary confinement for 130 days&comma; was interrogated day and night for hours&comma; appeared in handcuffs and a leash around his waist and was denied rights to see his wife for months&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In his 150-minute conference&comma; Ghosn attacked Japanese prosecutors&comma; saying they were &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;aided and abetted by petty&comma; vindictive and lawless individuals” in the government&comma; Nissan and its law firm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said it was them&comma; not him&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;who are destroying Japan’s reputation on the global stage”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Tuesday&comma; Tokyo prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Ghosn’s Lebanese wife Carole on suspicion of perjury&comma; a charge unrelated to his escape&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; Japanese justice officials acknowledge that it is unclear whether the Ghosns can be brought back to Japan to face charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nissan has said it is still pursuing legal action against Ghosn despite his escape&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e40cf7a9134">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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