On January 29th, Japanese authorities raided the office of Japanese lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, who had been involved in the judicial case of former Nissan CEO, Carlos Ghosn.
They had previously raided his office when he was still Ghosn’s lawyer. However, he has since resigned.
The Japanese authorities forced open a lock on the door of Hironaka’s office, and went in, searching for records of people Ghosn had been meeting there while out on bail, among other materials.
Hironaka and the prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the details of the search, and whether or not it included the seizure of the computer that Ghosn had used.
The lawyer had previously refused to comply with prosecutors who had obtained a warrant to take his computer citing attorney-client privilege.
Carlos Ghosn’s method of escape is still subject to speculations. It is believed that he escaped by taking a train and sneaking out of Japan through Kansai Airport.
The speculation of him hiding in a box of musical equipment is still just that so far: speculation.
The only confirmed fact, as of yet, is that he stopped in Turkey and how he made it through from there to Beirut. However, Ghosn has always been silent about the specifics of his escape.
He has since lashed out at what he believes to be the unfair justice system in Japan, stating it as the reason for his escape.
Despite the fact that Japan has an arrest warrant out for Ghosn, Lebanon had refused to cooperate with Interpol to extradite him to Japan. He had entered the country legally through his French passport and his Lebanese identification card.
Ghosn was arrested in 2018, because of charges of alleged financial misconduct. He has spoken extensively about the details of his detainment and his bail conditions in his press conference.
Ghosn’s escape has been reported to have humiliated the Japanese authorities, who are now up to make some reforms to their justice system, as recently claimed.
After arriving in Lebanon, Ghosn made a statement on December 31st:
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold.”
