CARLOS GHOSN - FUGITIVE FROM INJUSTICE by John Crawford

I have to say, I continue to admire Carlos Ghosn's chutzpah.

Here's a guy who has continually professed his innonence of the alleged charges against him, and recognizes he's never going to get a fair trial in Japan.

So, what does he do? He acts decisively, like always, and at noon a few days ago he walked, alone, from his Tokyo home and - disappeared. 

Amazingly, it was two days after Nissan curtailed its round-the-clock surveillance on his house.

Next, he turned up in his birth country of Lebanon after swapping executive jets at a private airport in Ankara, Turkey.

We all await, with baited breath, his press conference scheduled for this Wednesday, where he will outline his defence against the charges he was to be tried on in Japan.

Although an employee of the MNG executive jet hire company has been charged with deleting his name from the passenger manifest on both jets, I suspect that the Japanese guards were distracted at exactly the right time, for Carlos to slip out of the country.

This was a complex and carefully-planned escape, and I don't think it could have been achieved without a certain 'lack of attention' from all parties.

There's the expected 'harrumphing' from both Japan and Turkey, but I suspect that's hot air, quite frankly. Who knows what will happen now. I doubt Ghosn will be extradited, or that he will stand trial in Lebanon. In fact I think if his Japanese trial had proceeded, he may well have been found not guilty.

Despite Japan Inc.'s 99% success rate for convictions, I think they would have struggled to prove the charges.

He is now reunited with his wife, Carole, and he has gone to great lenths to assure everyone that his escape plans were conceived, directed and executed by him, and him alone. 

However, I'm sure we may well see a Netflix feature on the story in a year or two. It makes for a great script.

JOHN CRAWFORD