Ghosn Update: Turkish Jet Operator Files Complaint, Pilots Detained, As Japanese Authorities Remain Tight-lipped

The Carlos Ghosn escape saga continues to evolve without any help from the man himself. Stating Thursday that he alone orchestrated his escape from Japan, where the former auto titan was living under house arrest, Ghosn has not offered the full story on how he slipped out of the country and made his way to Lebanon.

What is clear is that Ghosn’s two-part escape involved the use of two private aircraft and a plane swap in Turkey. The operator of those aircraft isn’t happy.

As reported by Bloomberg, Istanbul-based MNG Jet Havacilik AS has filed a complaint about “the illegal use of its jet charter services,” claiming a pilot falsified records as part of Ghosn’s escape plan. The former auto executive’s name allegedly appears nowhere on any related documentation.

Turkey has reportedly detained seven people in the escape effort, four of them pilots. MNG says two Bombardier business jets were hired to complete two flights — the first from Osaka, Japan to Istanbul, Turkey (originating in Dubai); the second from Istanbul to Beirut, Lebanon.

Complicating the narrative that Ghosn slipped out of Japan from under the watchful gaze of authorities with the help of a hired team of mercenaries posing as a Gregorian band, Japanese media now report that surveillance footage of Ghosn’s Tokyo home showed the former exec leaving, alone, on Sunday, never to return. Both broadcaster NHK and newspaper Nikkei claim Japanese prosecutors are looking into the theory that Ghosn met up with a group after leaving his home, The New York Times reports.

Osaka is roughly 300 miles from Tokyo.

Japanese authorities have remained silent as to how the former Renault CEO and Nissan chairman escaped house arrest and a series of looming trials stemming from his alleged financial wrongdoings. It’s alleged that Ghosn made a break for it after learning that one of the trials had been pushed back to spring 2021. Ghosn, who holds Lebanese citizenship, is now the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant, though Lebanon isn’t known for extraditing its citizens.

[Image: Nissan]