Carlos Ghosn misses summons of investigative judge in France

BEIRUT —Carlos Ghosn, former Renault-Nissan executive, did not comply with the recent summons of a Parisian investigating judge, sources told AFP. Ghosn was arrested on Nov. 19, 2018 and accused of financial crimes, including failing to report his true earnings. He spent a period of time in jail before being held under house arrest in Tokyo on bail. He escaped to Lebanon on Dec. 30, 2019.

Here’s what we know:

    • "Our client is subject to a judicial ban from leaving Lebanese territory, this situation is well known to French judges," Jean Tamalet, one of his lawyers, told AFP.

    • French prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant against him in April.

    • The absence of Ghosn paves the way for the issuance of a second arrest warrant by the French courts, after the issuance of the first warrant, on the April 21.

    • The former head of the Nissan-Renault alliance fled to Lebanon in 2019, while out on bail facing financial misconduct charges in Japan, although he denies wrongdoing.

    • Ghosn is targeted by two institutions in Paris and in Nanterre. In Paris, an investigating judge summoned Ghosn on May 19 for an interrogation, two sources confirmed to AFP, regarding the consulting services conducted by RNBV, a Dutch subsidiary embodying the Renault-Nissan alliance, with former French Minister of Justice Rachida Dati and criminologist Alain Bauer.

    • In Paris, an investigation was held to ascertain whether Dati was conducting pure legal work or whether she was engaged in lobbying, which would be illegal for European lawmakers.

    • Dati was charged on July 21 for "passive corruption" and "benefiting from abuse of power” in the European Parliament, where she was elected at the time, and “concealment of breach of trust.”

    • In the investigation targeting him in Nanterre, an investigating judge issued an arrest warrant against Carlos Ghosn on April 21, for "abuse of corporate assets," "breach of trust," "organized money laundering" and "passive corruption" from 2012 to 2017.

    • Ghosn, who has French, Brazilian and Lebanese nationalities, is currently in Lebanon, a country which does not extradite its nationals.

    • In Beirut, according to AFP, he saw his passport withdrawn with the prohibition to leave Lebanon, because of the investigation and the Japanese mandate targeting him.