by 2018, Carlos Ghosn has been one of the most well-known and respected top managers on the planet. In Japan about it, “mighty gaijin” saved Nissan from bankruptcy, comic books. In a historic home in Lebanon with his image on it issued postage stamps. About the way of life of the Creator of one of the largest automakers in the world, wrote books, and the decision of the Gon was studied in business schools. New twist of fate, the Rut will surely inspire the authors of adventurous novels and movies.
of His glorious career came to an end in November 2018, when the rut once again flew to Japan for a meeting of the Board of Nissan: the top-Manager was arrested at the airport, accusing him of financial irregularities, and put in solitary confinement in the same prison, where there were sects of “AUM Shinrikyo” (an organization banned in Russia), in 1995, committed the terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway, which suffered more than 5,000 people.
After this Rut, a citizen of Brazil, Lebanon and France repeatedly released on bail, arrested again and released. But on the eve of the new 2020 media reported the sensational news: the gon has escaped from house arrest in Tokyo and showed up in Lebanon. Real life was even more incredible than the adventure novel or movie: a former top Manager, who left Japan in the box, took refuge in a mansion in Beirut, owned by Nissan. This mansion is a Japanese company at the time he acquired the residence for Gon and his family, now trying unsuccessfully to evict out their former leader.
Christmas surprise
According to the charges, filed in Japan, the 65-year-old Gon threatened ten years in prison, and he seriously wondered if he will end his days in a Japanese prison in Japan were only 1% of acquittals. And gon decided to run. The mastermind of the escape, as I suspect the Japanese law enforcement, was new wife Rut – Carol, at which they got married in October 2016 (gon accusations in her address as the address of the other members of his family, denies.)
Time for escape was the most appropriate: in December in Japan long new year holidays, when the rest of even law enforcement. In Japan it is not customary to wear an electronic bracelet during house arrest. Instead, the Gon has selected the passport, took the pledge ($14 million) and hung the front door camera. He was allowed to leave the house. The usual routes was a trip to the French bakery and gym. Outside the Rut could go from three agents in civilian clothes from the police, from the prosecution and from the private Agency that hired Nissan, writes the WSJ. But law enforcement officers did not conduct ongoing monitoring. Traders and lawyers of the Rut threatened with a lawsuit, emphasizing the privacy. 29 Dec private surveillance was suspended.
And on the same day at about 14.30 surveillance camera recorded as gon walked out of the house, writes Bloomberg. He was wearing a hat and medical mask – wearing in Japan, many fear germs. Around 16.30 gon sat on the bullet train at Shinagawa station in Tokyo and three hours later arrived in Osaka at the local airport he was met by a rented business jet.
a Terminal for business jets in Osaka was chosen because its x-ray machine was not box for musical instrument, which hid the Rut. At 23.10 Bombardier, flew to Istanbul. Range, it is allowed to take a course directly into Beirut, but it might have aroused suspicion: there from Osaka almost no one flies. Remarkable and route business jet. The shortest path lay over China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. But the plane headed North-North-West, carefully avoiding the airspace of South Korea, which has an extradition Treaty with Japan. And then flying over Russia, from the air space which left only over the Black sea.
gon – hero video games
Escape the Rut impressed the Japanese and awakened their creativity. 23 Jan should get a video game Ghone is Gone, which is to help former head of the Alliance Ruso, Nisson and Bishibishi the Loskar Gon to escape from the country from their enemies, “using a variety of tools”.
In June 2009, the gon personally showed Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister, the first Nissan Teana assembled at the plant in St. Petersburg. Gon was one of the initiators of the purchase 75% of shares of “AVTOVAZ” in the years 2013-2016 was elected to its Board of Directors, and in 2017, AVTOVAZ showed a profit. So gon could have hoped for at least a delay in order to intercept, if the Japanese caught on and demanded from the Russian authorities to arrest him, says Bloomberg.
But the Japanese missed the escape. Around 5.30 am local time, the Bombardier, landed at Istanbul airport. Ataturk. Last year it closed to passenger planes, leaving only cargo flights and business jets. Most likely, gon again climbed into the box and was handled in another Bombardier, standing 25 m from the first.
Employee of the Turkish airline MNG Jet Havacilik, rent both aircraft, not mentioned in the documents the name of the gun. Both the flight from Dubai, via Osaka to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Beirut – he scored as unrelated flights. The airline filed a police report and expressed readiness to cooperate with the authorities. He is arrested, and four of the pilots under investigation.
And Ghosn flew to Beirut, where he didn’t have to hide anymore. He moved to Lebanon, with a second French passport: frequent travelers to the French citizens are allowed to have two passports in case we have to go on a journey and at the same time to apply for a visa to another country. A Japanese court has left inthe second passport Gon: foreigners are required to carry the identity card, explains the TV channel France24. The document has been stored in a plastic box with a combination lock. Code known only to his lawyers, but this makeshift safe was easy to crack, says Bloomberg.
Escape cost the Gon estimated $20 million, according to FT. $14 million of them lost a Deposit. However, gon was one of the highest paid managers in Japan: only in 2017-2018 he earned $17 million.
Who released Rutting
Bloomberg suggests that the main organizer of the escape of Gon – Michael Taylor, a veteran of “the green berets” (elite US special forces). In the 1980s, Taylor was sent to Lebanon to train the Christian militia. He has got extensive contacts in the local Christian community that belongs to the rut. In 1983, Taylor left the army, but remained in Lebanon as a private military instructor. He soon married a local girl. Taylor is fluent in Arabic, two of his three sons graduated from College in Lebanon. Later, Taylor moved to Massachusetts, but traveled frequently to Lebanon, as a secret agent of the FBI, the Agency for struggle against drugs of the USA and other structures. In 1994 he founded the security firm American International Security Corporation, specializing in a wide range of cases – from security services to secure the release of hostages.
the next day after his escape, Taylor gave an interview for veterans of the U.S. armed forces Connecting Vets. He refused to answer questions about his role in the case, but it readily commented: “This guy [gon] was hell, hostage. If he escaped from North Korea or China, it would be told quite differently”.
All the team who organized the escape of Gon consisted of 10-15 people of different nationalities and were separated to perform one job did not know what the others are doing, writes the WSJ. More than 20 trips to Japan and gaveinformation about the top ten possible terminal (from airports to seaports) where limping inspection.
But where to go? After the arrest, the gon has requested the help of the authorities in all three countries, citizen of which he is France, Brazil and Lebanon. Fussed over him only Lebanese (Minister of foreign Affairs Gebran the Bassila – in-law of Rut), though without much success. For many in Lebanon Ghosn – the national hero. Even released a series of stamps with his portrait. Finally, Lebanon has no extradition Treaty with Japan. And a former top Manager chose historic homeland.
From what fled gon
January 7, gon has collected a press-conference in Beirut at which he announced that he had a choice, “die in Japan or escape.” “I’m not running from justice. I ran away from injustice and political persecution,” added Ghosn. He complained that Japanese prosecutors treated him “cruelly and without mercy”, was interrogated for up to eight hours a day without the presence of lawyers, threatened: “If you do not confess, it will only get worse”, was given to understand that under attack may be his family. In prison he was kept in “a tiny cell without a window”, to wash, he could only twice a week, walking was no more than 30 minutes a day on weekdays only allegedly due to staff shortages.
To escape the Rut Japanese prosecutors charged him with four counts. This is two cases of concealment of income (2010 gon hid a reward in the amount of about $89 million) and two of abuse of trust. Supposedly the gon in 2008 suffered on their investments the detriment of 1.85 billion yen (about $21 million) and came up with a scheme to shift these losses to Nissan. Gon and allegedly stole part of the $35 million directed Nissan in 2011-2018 to stimulate sales dealer Omani Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. (The company is connected with another Gun.) Of this money, going through a chain of transactions was allegedly invested in the company to his son Anthony Shogun Investments, and a part spent on the purchase of the yacht within the firm Beauty Yachts owned by his wife.
Nissan Have much more claim to his former Manager. For example, in 2003-2011 and 2014-2016 from the accounts of the Japanese company paid $755 000 older sister Gon Claudine – she allegedly consulted a “global Advisory Council on philanthropy”. Nissan claim that this structure in the Alliance, writes the FT.
March 9, 2014 gon threw in Versailles, a lavish party on the occasion of “the 15th anniversary the Renault-Nissan Alliance”. It cost 635 000 euros, was attended by 200 people, of which there were only two managers and no Renault – Nissan. A leaked video of the party I can not see any company logo. And date of conclusion of the Alliance – March 27 and March 9 is the birthday of the Rut, which in 2014 is 60 years old. His lawyers claim that after all we are talking about the anniversary of the Alliance, and their own anniversary top Manager celebrated the next day at his own expense.
The anniversary party paid Dutch joint venture Renault-Nissan BV, where gon was listed as CEO. The audit of this company revealed that in 2009-2018 years she spent $ 10.9 million euros on something very similar to the personal spending of the gun, wrote the WSJ. For example, how should a dinner for 15,000 euros of Gon and his friends at the Museum Marmottan-Monet in Paris in 2015? Or purchase for 29 EUR 200 Cartier watches in 2010? Or entertainment for guests of the annual film festival in Cannes? Or a fee of 899 000 euros to the Lebanese law firm Abou Jaoude & Associates, whose founder is the personal lawyer of the Rut? It was a business expenditure and gifts to the partners, say the advocates of Gon.
collapsed As the dream of Gon
Ghosn was born March 9, 1954, in Brazil in a family of Lebanese immigrants. He spent his childhood in Beirut, and engineering, he studied in Paris at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique. Ghosn is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic.
Passion for cars from his childhood. He insisted that a boy could learn to mark the sound of the horn. For the first time he got behind the wheel in 15 years of the Peugeot 404 mother. First the car started as a student in Paris – a tiny Fiat 127.
After high school he went to Intern at Michelin, where he quickly rose in the service. At some point he was sent to Brazil to head the unprofitable production and gon made it profitable. He headed the North American branch, was the CEO of the production of tires for light trucks. In the end he had no career prospects within the company, as Michelin is a family business. In 1996, Ghosn enticed into unprofitable then Renault Vice-President.
they dubbed Le cost killer (“Killer costs” in English, but with French article). In accordance with the developed plan was closed a plant in Belgium, according to the company, a wave of mass layoffs. But there were funds to develop new models.
In 1999 Renault invested in Nissan, which was on the verge of collapse. Ghosn was sent to Tokyo to save the automaker. Just four months later, he first not Japanese, led by Nissan, was presented scandalous by local standards plan. It closed five factories. Cut 21 000 jobs, half of which occurred in the administrative staff. Rejected some of the models. Destroyed the links with the traditional suppliers sold their shares owned by Nissan, and ripped many of the contracts, ruining a number of companies. The proceeds Gong successfully renewed the model range. His merit acknowledged even by the British Queen Elizabeth: the Gon was awarded a knighthood for his contribution to Nissan in the UK.
In 2005, a load to the leadership of the Japanese company Gon instructed to manage and Renault. He returned to Paris and turned the Alliance into an effective mechanism.
In the early 2000s gon fervently argued at a meeting with investors that the CEO should work five years, and then go to another car company. But he followed this advice for the sake of dreams. “He was always trying to make the Alliance more and more, – said the source FT surrounded by Rut. – It was his personal ambitions.” In the mid-2000s, there were rumors that the gon agrees on the Alliance with General Motors. The case went cold.
three years before his arrest, in 2016, Ghosn announced the Nissan acquisition of 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors. It was a masterpiece the deal: one of the most famous brands of Japan entered the Empire for relatively little money – $2.2 billion Helped scandal: Mitsubishi Motors admitted that a quarter of a century understated data on the fuel consumption of cars. Including for cars of small made it to Nissan under the Nissan brand.
In the end, three second-tier automaker – Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi entered the elite club, which produces more than 10 million vehicles per year. That is, every ninth-the tenth machine in the world. The Alliance has two serious competitor, Toyota and Volkswagen. For example, if you exclude sales of heavy trucks in 2018, the Alliance took the first place on manufacture of cars (and if you include all types of machinery, the leader Volkswagen).
Ghosn did not hide that intends one after another to abandon the posts in the Alliance. At a press conference on December 7 he said that he was ready to resign before the summer of 2018, but was persuaded to stay: “unfortunately, I agreed.”
Then gon was hardly regret that decision. He secretly filmed meeting in someone else’s name on hotel rooms, was in talks to merge with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. If the idea is good, gon would stand up in textbooks next to Lee Iacocca or Jack Welch, says Bloomberg. But still would get a good income. According to the FT, the gon planned to become the honorary Chairman of the new Alliance. This work did not require much time, in fact, the rut led the life of a pensioner, but with an annual income of $40 million and a bonus of up to $6 million.
the most Important meeting with the President of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles John Elkana was scheduled for January 2019 But in November 2018, Ghosn was arrested, and in October 2019, the FCA has agreed to a deal with Peugeot, burying all hopes of an Alliance with Renault-Nissan.
In 2018, eight couples received an invitation from spouses gon to the carnival in Brazil. Renault-Nissan BV paid € 260,000 for accommodation, cultural program, gifts – in short, everything except the tickets. Nissan sponsored the Samba school that performed at the carnival, and the company traditionally invites special guests for a corporate event, explained lawyers.
suspicion fell on donations of € 2 million, most of which went to organizations in Lebanon.
was checked and purchase Gon corporate card Nissan. In 2012-2013, she spent about $30,000 on costumes Louis Vuitton. Lawyers Gon retorted that this was done at the insistence of the Nissan designers who don’t like the style Rut. In 2014-2015, rut times paying a corporate credit card in the Tokyo boutique Ermenegildo Zegna. They were gifts to business partners, made with the consent of Nissan, explained to lawyers the Rut.
$10 000 was spent on helicopter rental for the wedding of the daughter of Caroline Ghosn in Japan in 2018, Nissan encouraged the Gon to move through the air, for security reasons, said the lawyers in that region was in the midst of a flood due to heavy rains.
Protection-Gon says that all these accusations – Nissan’s attempt to discredit the former leader. But they greatly hinder the cases where the gon has agreed to pay compensation after charges.
gon lived for more than 25 years of marriage with his first wife, a Lebanese named Rita. They have three daughters and a son. But the marriage fell apart.
the Wedding with his new wife, Carol, Ghosn said in one of the palaces VerSalle – the Big Trianon. In February 2019 Nissan blamed the Rut that rent the Palace – 50 000 Euro have been paid from the account of the company and issued in the form of charitable donations Versailles. Press Secretary of the Gon responded by saying that gon is ready to repay that amount. A lawyer Ghosn added that his client had no idea that the Palace provided he is not free, but at the expense of the charity program of the company. And noticed that all the other spending on the wedding gon paid from personal money.
In September of last year, the gon has agreed to pay the SEC $1 million (and Nissan has paid the regulator $15 million) to settle allegations that he has declared more than $140 million in deferred compensation that had to get from Nissan after retirement. As is usual in such cases, the gon did not recognize, but also did not deny the charges.
These charges represent the Rut greedy man who loved expensive things, and to confuse corporate accounts and personal. But when in the year of its 15th anniversary in 2015, “Vedomosti” admitted Ghosn “most outgoing international newsmaker” (from 2001 to 2013, a top Manager gave the “Vedomosti” five interviews) and expressed a desire to give the winner a prize, the first thing the representative asked Gon, “What is the value of the prize?” Knowing that it’s just a porcelain figurine, gon took it.
the Degeneration of the head
the gon of the late 1990s was atypical for the industry leader, says FT in ill-fitting suits, strange looking glasses, constantly communicating with the rank and file employees, suppliers, dealers. He rarely lost his temper. The guilty get a chance to explain why it all went wrong, and could suggest how to correct the error. Gon at the time was known as Seven-Eleven, by analogy with the network of small shops: the work he began with the dawn and worked long after sunset.
In the new century, gon thought about the appearance. He POHdestiny, did laser vision correction and was wearing designer suits. For each dealership he ordered a new suit Louis Vuitton. Changed management style. “Gon has become more authoritarian. He was saying that does not want to hear about the problems,” complained his former slave FT.
Working under the beginning of the Rut, the managers of Renault and Nissan, which had a chance to talk “statements” after his arrest, also said that in recent years their boss has changed. A series of successes and the actual lack of control of Rut meant that he believed in their infallibility, and for many years at the head of Renault and Nissan – to the fact that he began to consider his company.
Visits the Rut is already being heralded as if he were the head of state, wrote to the FT: a team of helpers spent weeks verifying the schedule in great detail. One of the visits had been cancelled for anecdotal reason: unfinished object was absent on the maps, and the assistants are unable to calculate with accuracy to the minute time going to him and from him.
the arrival of the Gong was preceded by the appearance of the assistants with earphone in the ear with the cry: “the President is coming!” Subordinates are afraid to say “no” to the Rut and to criticize it. The Rut there was a sense of complacency. And Nissan formed a group of managers, who began to collect dirt on the Rut.
“Some of my Japanese friends thought that the only way to get rid of the influence of Renault on the Nissan is to get rid of me,” said Ghosn at a press conference on 7 January. Renault controls 43% of Nissan, and Nissan 15% of Renault without voting rights, and that not everyone likes in Japan. Gon, however, insisted on a closer integration of companies.
“My unspeakable torment – the result [of the actions] of a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive people, says Ghosn. – The allegations against me are baseless. I don’t know any of the democraticcoy country where you were sent to prison for such charges, even if they are justified.” He believes that victim of a conspiracy of senior managers of the company and officials and even listed the names of the “conspirators” from Nissan. To name the officials did not – apparently because of legal risks.
Lebanese pensioner
it looks Like gon is stuck in Lebanon. It is not only in the fact that on 9 January he gave on his own recognizance. Japan insisted that Interpol issued a Red notice Notice, and now Gon was threatened with arrest in many countries.
However, such fugitives can live quite comfortably. The famous Director Roman Polanski to the United States was accused of raping a minor. In 1978 he fled to France, which does not like to extradite their nationals. There he lives and works until now, and his paintings regularly receive prestigious awards. For example, in “Tess” (1979) was awarded the “Cesar” and “the Pianist” (2002) got “Oscar” for best actor. In 2009, Polanski was arrested in Switzerland but authorities refused to extradite him to the United States. In some European countries, the courts also made a decision to refuse extradition.
From the Rut in Lebanon winery. After retirement, he planned to spend in this country a lot of time. And while living in a mansion in Beirut, which Nissan bought and repaired at their own expense, spending $15 million After the arrest of Gona the Japanese tried to evict his family from the house, but she was allowed to stay until the verdict of the Lebanese court. Lawyers Gona say that his family does not deny that this corporate housing and are ready to move out as soon as the requirements of the Japanese will be recognized by the court.
But Ghosn not only wants to live in freedom, he needs justification. Its goal is to publicly criticize the legal system of Japan, wrote Bloomberg before a press conference on 7 January. Speech of Gon confirmed this theory.
the day before the press conference Japanese authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of the wife of Rut, because she allegedly gave false testimony to the court in April last year. Carol gon interpreted this as pressure on the husband and trying to disrupt his communication with journalists.
gon has Japan to hold the trial in another country – for example, in Lebanon. Some of the Lebanese deputies supported this idea.
But not everything is so smooth. Lebanon is experiencing a banking crisis that needs the help of the West and the last thing he needs strained relations with Japan, complained FT one of the local politicians. Thursday January 9, Ghosn was interviewed by the Lebanese militiamen. He had to tell not only about Japan but also about Israel. In Lebanon, the visit to this country – a crime punishable by prison. Gon was in Israel, but in order to hush up, to escape he had a public apology in 2018 and Now a number of Lebanese lawyers wrote a statement demanding to Institute proceedings against Gon.
In the preparation of this article participated Alexander Gubsky