Japan was WRONG to detain Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, UN human rights panel declares

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Japan was WRONG to detain Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and should pay him compensation, UN human rights panel declares

  • The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called on Japan’s government 
  • Found that detention of Carlos Ghosn, 66, between 2018 and 2019 was ‘arbitrary’
  • Led Japanese carmaker Nissan for 20 years and rescued it from near-bankruptcy

By Emily Webber For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

A United Nations human rights panel has declared that former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was wrongly detained in Japan and should be paid ‘compensation’.   

The five-member group, which is made up of independent experts, found that the detention of Mr Ghosn, 66, between late 2018 and early 2019 was ‘arbitrary’. 

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called on Japan’s government to ‘take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Mr Ghosn without delay’.

A United Nations human rights panel has declared that former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn (pictured) was wrongly detained in Japan and should be paid ‘compensation’

It asked Japan to ensure a ‘full and independent investigation’ of Mr Ghosn’s detention and called for the government ‘to take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights’.

The group’s 17-page opinion read: ‘The Working Group considers that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to accord Mr Ghosn an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.’ 

Mr Ghosn, who was born in Brazil and also has French, Lebanese citizenship, led Japanese carmaker Nissan for two decades and rescued it from near-bankruptcy. 

Mr Ghosn fled japan where he faced corruption charges. He is pictured here arriving at a Tokyo court in April last year

Mr Ghosn fled japan where he faced corruption charges. He is pictured here arriving at a Tokyo court in April last year

He was arrested in November 2018 on charges of breach of trust, in misusing company assets for personal gain, and violating securities laws in not fully disclosing his compensation. He denies wrongdoing. 

In December, he fled from Japan to Lebanon while out on bail awaiting trial, meaning his case will not go on in Japan.

Interpol has issued a wanted notice but his extradition from Lebanon is unlikely.

Mr Ghosn has accused Nissan and Japanese officials of conspiring to bring him down to block a fuller integration of Nissan with its French alliance partner Renault SA.

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn and his wife Carole Ghosn talk during an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon January 14, 2020

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn and his wife Carole Ghosn talk during an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon January 14, 2020

The opinions of the working group, which was created nearly 30 years ago by a UN-backed human rights body, are not binding on states but aim to hold them up to their own human rights commitments. 

Its past ruling involved the case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who was likewise deemed to have had his human rights violated.

Mr Ghosn’s lawyers filed a petition with the working group in March 2019 appealing to its role to look into cases in which governments are alleged to have wrongly detained individuals under agreed international human rights conventions.

Its members declined to speak to reporters about the opinion, the UN human rights office said.    

Carlos Ghosn’s escape to Beirut  

  • Billionaire businessman Carlos Ghosn was first arrested on 19 November 2018 for questioning over allegations of false accounting.  
  • On 21 December 2018, he was re-arrested on suspicion of shifting to Nissan personal losses of US$16.6 million related to a personal swap contract in October 2008. 
  • In March 2019, Ghosn was granted a request for bail in a Tokyo court, subject to stringent conditions. 
  • On 30 December 2019 it emerged that Ghosn had fled Japan for Lebanon while out on bail. Ghosn later confirmed these reports through a statement which claimed that he would ‘no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant and basic human rights are denied.’ 
  • Despite being under 24 hour surveillance, it is understood Ghosn left his Tokyo apartment at around 14:30 on 29 December and joined two men at a nearby hotel before the three of them boarded a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka and arrived at a hotel near Kansai International Airport just after 8pm. 
  • A few hours later, two men left the hotel carrying large containers, including an instrument box which Ghosn had squeezed himself into. The men boarded a Bombardier Global Express private jet with Turkish registration TC-TSR. The large box carrying Ghosn was never x-rayed or checked by customs officials, because it was too big to fit inside the x-ray machine.  
  • The plane departed Kansai Airport at 11.10pm local time, arriving at Istanbul Ataturk Airport at 5.26am on the morning of December 30. Within an hour of the plane’s landing, a separate private jet left for Beirut.