A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For January 02-03/2020 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 78th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
January 03/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January02- 03/2020
No For Arresting & Imprisoning Dr. Issam Khalefe/Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
The Great Loss of the Journalist Najwa Kassiem/Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
Love Unites Not Enmity/Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
The accused is innocent until proven guilty/Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
France Hopes for a Future Govt. that Meets Aspirations of Lebanese
Lebanon Bankers Threaten New Strike over Safety Concerns
Optimism Reportedly Surges after ‘6-Hour Diab-Bassil Meeting’
Jumblat Rejects Environment Portfolio, Says Give Social Affairs to ‘Caritas’
Geagea: Political Forces Seeking to Name Advisers as Ministers
Lebanon receives Interpol-issued wanted notice for Ghosn: Justice minister
Carlos Ghosn says family played no role in escape from Japan: Statement
Turkey probes how Nissan chief Ghosn fled via Istanbul, detains several
Japanese prosecutors raid Nissan ex-chair Ghosn’s Tokyo home
Ghosn Says He Alone Organized His Departure from Japan
Ghosn Escape Sparks Calls to Toughen Japan’s Bail System
Lebanese Lawyers Want Ghosn Prosecuted over Israel Trip
Lebanese lawyers file charges against Carlos Ghosn for Israel visits
Lebanon’s Ambassador to Japan denies his embassy helped Carlos Ghosn escape
Presidency Denies Aoun Welcomed Fugitive Ghosn
Carlos Ghosn’s Escape: What We Know
Runway to Runaway: Carole Ghosn, Wife of Fugitive Tycoon
Ghosn used one of two French passports to flee: media
Lebanon receives Interpol wanted notice for Nissan ex-chair
Renowned Lebanese senior news anchor Najwa Qassem dies at 51/Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/January 02/2010
Details Of The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on January 02-03/2020
No For Arresting & Imprisoning Dr. Issam Khalefe
Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
The biased judiciary arrest verdict against Dr. Issam Khalefe is an insult and contempt for each and every sovereign, independent, honourable, and free Lebanese citizen. In summary the Lebanese regime officials from top to bottom are corrupt, The country is occupied, The politicians are mere puppets, and the Judiciary is biased and politicized
The Great Loss of the Journalist Najwa Kassiem
Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
The sudden death of the distinguishable journalist and reporter, Najwa Kassim this morning was an extremely sad news. We pray for the eternal rest of her soul and offer our deeply felt condolences to her family and friends. Her death is a great loss of a truly distinguished media talent.
Love Unites Not Enmity
Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
Hizbullah, which is mere hostility and hatred, is striving to unite the Lebanese by force on the principle of enmity, while there is neither unity nor unification except on the basis of love.
The accused is innocent until proven guilty
Elias Bejjani/January 02/2020
Carlos Ghosn is accused, not convicted yet. His case is so complicated and intertwined with international political conflicts. Have mercy on the man and stop stoning him The accused is innocent until proven guilty
France Hopes for a Future Govt. that Meets Aspirations of Lebanese
Naharnet 02/2020
French ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher urged the formation of a Lebanese government acceptable by the people taking their demands into consideration, the National News Agency reported on Thursday. Foucher, who met with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace, conveyed his country’s desire that Lebanon “forms a new government that will respond to the aspirations of the Lebanese at this stage.”The meeting between the two men was held in the presence of caretaker State Minister for Presidency Affairs, Salim Jreissati and the first secretary at the French embassy, Stephanie Salha. Discussions also touched on the situation in Lebanon, and the ongoing efforts to form a new government.
Lebanon Bankers Threaten New Strike over Safety Concerns
Naharnet 02/2020
The Federation of Syndicates of Banks Employees in Lebanon on Thursday warned that it might stage a new strike amid the ongoing protests in the country that have increasingly targeted banks in recent days. In a statement, the federation said “bank branches witnessed organized attacks in late 2019 by individuals claiming to represent the popular protest movement.”“Through their storming of several bank branches, these hooligans sought to tarnish the image of the banking sector… and they breached all the norms of public morals, hurling all kinds of insults and profanes at the employees. They also beat up some colleagues,” the federation added. Describing the incidents as “a direct attack on the banking sector and the national value it represents as well as on the prestige of the state, whose duty is to protect all citizens,” the federation noted that “the state of chaos created by these organized attacks will not alleviate the suffering of depositors.”“Depositors have the right, under the applicable laws, to object against the extraordinary measures that the administrations of banks have temporarily taken to preserve the continuity of the work of the banking sector and to avoid a descent into the unknown,” the federation explained. Accordingly, the federation urged all security agencies to “protect bankers in their places of work against the violations of those who claim to be rebels against corruption and the waste of public funds.”The federation “warns that should security forces fail to deter these hooligans, it will be obliged to take the decision of declaring a new general strike in the banking sector pending the restoration of stability and calm in all places of work and branches across the country,” the statement said. A grinding liquidity crunch has hit Lebanon, where unprecedented protests since October 17 have railed against the political class and a deepening economic crisis. Since September, banks have restricted the amount of dollars that can be withdrawn or transferred abroad. Although no formal policy is in place, most have arbitrarily capped withdrawals at around $1,000 a month, while others have imposed tighter restrictions.
With ordinary depositors bearing the brunt of these measures, bank branches have transformed into arenas of conflict.
Fistfights, shouting and tears abound, as cash-hungry clients haggle tellers to release money trapped under informal capital controls.By trapping dollar savings, banks are increasingly forcing the public to deal with the plummeting Lebanese pound, in what experts are calling a de-facto haircut. The local currency has lost around 30 percent of its value on the unofficial exchange market for the first time since it was pegged to the dollar at 1,500 Lebanese pounds in 1997. The restrictions have sparked panic in debt-ridden Lebanon, where protesters are demanding the removal of a political class they deem incompetent and corrupt. A video circulating on social media shows a customer pulling out an axe in the middle of a bank while he screams at employees who refused to hand him his money.In the northern city of Tripoli, a single soldier struggled to break up a fist fight between a handful of bank employees and a group of angry customers. As demonstrations enter their third month, protesters are also increasingly targeting banks, which they say are robbing people of their hard-earned savings.They have staged impromptu demonstrations inside branches, during the Christmas holidays singing carols to relay their message.
Optimism Reportedly Surges after ‘6-Hour Diab-Bassil Meeting’
Naharnet 02/2020
Optimism surged Thursday evening regarding the new government following a six-hour meeting between Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, a media report said. “The government is expected to be formed over the next few days and its members will resemble Hassan Diab, which means that they are independent technocrats who have expertise,” unnamed sources told LBCI television. “The government will be a salvation government and it will confront the financial and economic difficulties and the draft government line-up is undergoing final touches,” the sources added, noting that the cabinet will not comprise ministers from the outgoing government. Media reports had earlier said that a final agreement had been reached over the portfolios of Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement while the so-called Druze hurdle was resolved through the selection of a figure that satisfies both the Progressive Socialist Party and MP Talal Arslan, According to MTV, Diab has also found a solution to the interior portfolio obstacle and will name a Sunni judge or lawyer to the post. LBCI meanwhile said that there are assurances that the government will be formed before the end of the week and that it would comprise 18 or 20 ministers. PSP spokesman Saleh Hdaifeh for his part confirmed that “contacts are ongoing” to resolve the Druze obstacle and that a solution might emerge on Thursday afternoon or on Friday.
Jumblat Rejects Environment Portfolio, Says Give Social Affairs to ‘Caritas’
Naharnet 02/2020
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Thursday lashed out at proposals to represent the Druze community in the new cabinet with the environment or social affairs ministerial portfolios. “I tell those who are forming the government and I remind that Druze are not in the position of begging for a portfolio,” Jumblat tweeted. “In my name, in the name of all those who represent this dear sect and away from political divisions, we demand equality in the nature of representation, and at least we should have the industry or public works portfolio,” he added. “We reject garbage (environment portfolio) and as for social affairs, gift it to Caritas,” the PSP leader went on to say.
Geagea: Political Forces Seeking to Name Advisers as Ministers
Naharnet 02/2020
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday accused the political forces that are forming the new government of seeking to appoint supposedly technocratic ministers who are “closer to being advisers to these political forces.”“Everything that has been and is still being leaked to the media about the anticipated government line-up is not reassuring at all, whether in terms of the interference of the very political forces who were behind the current crisis in the country or in terms of the feud over portfolios among these forces,” Geagea added in a written statement. “May God protect the Lebanese people in these difficult circumstances, after the forces responsible for them have insisted on their former ugly practices,” the LF leader went on to say. Lebanon is without a cabinet and in the grips of a deepening economic crisis after a two-month-old protest movement forced Saad Hariri to stand down as prime minister on October 29. Anti-government protests continued after Hariri’s resignation, while political parties negotiated for weeks before nominating Hassan Diab, a professor and former education minister, to replace him on December 19. Echoing protester demands, Diab promised to form a government of independent experts within six weeks — in a country where appointing a cabinet can take months. But the majority of protesters are unconvinced by Diab’s promise, decrying his participation as a minister in a previous government deemed corrupt. The support given to him by powerful Shiite movement Hizbullah also angers many protesters and pro-Hariri Sunnis. The 60-year-old Diab, who has a low public profile and styles himself as a technocrat, last month called protester demands legitimate but asked them to give him a chance to form “an exceptional government.”
Lebanon receives Interpol-issued wanted notice for Ghosn: Justice minister
The Associated Press, Beirut/Thursday, 2 January 2020
Lebanon’s justice minister said Thursday that Lebanon has received an international wanted notice from Interpol for Nissan’s ex-chair Carlos Ghosn. Albert Serhan told The Associated Press in an interview that the Red Notice for the former automotive titan was received earlier Thursday by the prosecution. Interpol’s so-called Red Notices are requests to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a wanted fugitive. Japanese prosecutors on Thursday raided the Tokyo home of Ghosn after he skipped bail and fled to Lebanon before his trial on financial misconduct charges. Charged in Japan with under-reporting his future compensation and breach of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA.
It is unclear how Ghosn avoided the tight surveillance he was under in Japan and showed up in Lebanon. Ghosn said Tuesday in a statement that he left for Lebanon because he thought the Japanese judicial system was unjust, and he wanted to avoid “political persecution.”Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.
Carlos Ghosn says family played no role in escape from Japan: Statement
Reuters, Beirut/Thursday, 2 January 2020
The family of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn played no role in his escape from Japan, Ghosn said in a statement on Thursday, days after his abrupt arrival in Beirut from Tokyo, where he faces trial for alleged financial misconduct. “There has been speculation in the media that my wife Carole, and other members of my family played a role in my departure from Japan. All such speculation is inaccurate and false,” said the statement. “I alone arranged for my departure. My family had no role whatsoever,” it added.
Turkey probes how Nissan chief Ghosn fled via Istanbul, detains several
The Associated Press, Ankara/Thursday, 2 January 2020
Turkish police detained seven people including four pilots on Thursday in an investigation of how ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn touched down in Istanbul as he fled Japan en route to Lebanon, according to broadcaster NTV. Turkey’s interior ministry has launched a probe into the transit of Ghosn, who has become Japan’s most famous fugitive after revealing on Tuesday he fled to Beirut to escape what he called a “rigged” justice system. People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ghosn, one of the world’s best-known executives, had arrived in Beirut on a private jet from Istanbul on Monday. Hurriyet news website, citing an interior ministry official, said Turkish border police were not notified about Ghosn’s arrival, and neither his entry nor exit were registered. The plane arrived at 5:30 am (0230 GMT) Monday at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, Hurriyet reported, adding prosecutors ordered the arrests after widening their investigation. The reports could not immediately be confirmed. Lebanon has said that Ghosn entered the country legally and there was no reason to take action against him. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. Japanese authorities allowed Ghosn to carry a spare French passport in a locked case while out on bail, public broadcaster NHK said on Thursday, shedding some light on how he managed his escape to Lebanon. The businessman, who holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, was smuggled out of Tokyo by a private security company days ago, the culmination of a plan that was crafted over three months, Reuters has reported. Ghosn, who was charged with under-reporting his future compensation and a breach of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence. He says Japanese authorities trumped up the charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA. His 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail that Ghosn posted on two separate instances to get out of detention is being revoked.
Japanese prosecutors raid Nissan ex-chair Ghosn’s Tokyo home
The Associated Press, Tokyo/Thursday, 2 January 2020
Japanese prosecutors raided the Tokyo home of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn after he skipped bail before a trial on financial misconduct charges and left for Lebanon. Tokyo prosecutors and police did not immediately comment Thursday. Japanese media reported and showed photos of the raid. Government offices are closed this week for the New Year’s holidays. It is unclear how Ghosn avoided the tight surveillance he was under in Japan and showed up in Lebanon. Ghosn said Tuesday in a statement that he left for Lebanon because he thought the Japanese judicial system was unjust, and he wanted to avoid “political persecution.” He said he would talk to reporters next week. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon.Lebanon has said Ghosn entered the country legally, and there was no reason to take action against him. His lawyers in Japan said they had no knowledge of the escape and they had all his passports. Ghosn has French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship. Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV, without identifying sources, reported Thursday that Ghosn had two French passports. Earlier Japanese reports said there were no official records in Japan of Ghosn’s departure, but a private jet had left from a regional airport to Turkey. Ghosn, who was charged with under-reporting his future compensation and breach of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA. His 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail that Ghosn posted on two separate instances to get out of detention is being revoked.
Ghosn Says He Alone Organized His Departure from Japan
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Naharnet 02/2020
Former Renault and Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn issued a statement Thursday, his second this week, seeking to distance his Lebanese wife and family from any role in his spectacular escape from Japan to Lebanon. “The allegations in the media that my wife Carole and other members of my family played a role in my departure from Japan are false and misleading. I alone organized my departure. My family played no role,” he said. A first post-escape picture of Ghosn has meanwhile emerged, showing him next to his wife and two unidentified female relatives. According to French TV TF1, the photo was taken during a New Year’s Eve dinner in Lebanon. Ghosn, who had been under house arrest in Tokyo since April, is believed to be holed up in his central Beirut residence, where visitors file in and out under the scrutiny of TV cameras. Turkey has detained seven people for questioning, including four pilots, over how Ghosn managed to transit through Istanbul as he fled Japan on his way to Lebanon, Turkish news agency DHA reported Thursday. The Turkish interior ministry has opened an investigation into Ghosn’s apparent transfer between private jets at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Monday. It is focused on two flights, the first a Bombardier labeled TC-TSR flew from Osaka in Japan, landed in Istanbul at 05:15am and parked in a hangar. The second was a private jet to Beirut, a Bombardier Challenger 300 TC-RZA, which left 45 minutes later, according to DHA. The seven detained by police also include two ground personnel and the operations director of a private cargo company, DHA said. According to the Hurriyet newspaper, the Beirut-bound private jet was formerly owned by Turkish-Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab, convicted in the United States for his alleged role in a scheme to evade sanctions on Iran by trading gold for gas. Ghosn, the former Nissan boss, made a dramatic escape from Japan despite stringent bail conditions, claiming his upcoming trial for financial misconduct was rigged.
Ghosn Escape Sparks Calls to Toughen Japan’s Bail System
Agence France Presse/Naharnet 02/2020
Carlos Ghosn’s stunning flight while on bail awaiting trial has vindicated prosecutors who said he should have been kept in custody, and sparked calls to toughen Japan’s justice system that critics say is already overly harsh. “I knew it!” was the reaction of a senior Nissan executive cited in the Japanese press upon learning of his former boss’s escape to Lebanon to avoid trial in Tokyo. “This is how he proves his innocence? By fleeing abroad?” added the Nissan official quoted in the Asahi Shimbun. “It should be out of the question to grant bail to suspects who deny the accusations against them.”A senior prosecutor told the Mainichi Shimbun: “This is what we had predicted” when arguing Ghosn should remain in custody, bemoaning the fact their painstaking evidence gathering was now moot. There were also calls in the media to tighten bail procedures in the wake of the tycoon’s escape, which many papers said made a “mockery” of Japan’s justice system. “To prevent a repeat of the incident, we should discuss how to cover the weak points of the system, such as setting bail equal to most of the defendants’ assets, and GPS monitoring,” said the Yomiuri Shimbun. Ghosn’s high-profile arrest on multiple charges of financial misconduct threw an international spotlight on Japan’s justice system — widely considered draconian compared with the West. Suspects can be questioned initially for 48 hours, renewable for two periods of 10 days, bringing the time in custody without formal charges to 22 days.Prosecutors often then “re-arrest” a suspect on a slightly different allegation to restart the clock — which happened several times to Ghosn.
Certain of guilt
When formal charges are eventually pressed, there is a two-month period of pre-trial detention, renewable by one month at a time by appeal to the court.Former prosecutor Yasuyuki Takai told AFP that the system operates in this way so authorities only charge suspects they are absolutely sure are guilty. “Imagine that 30 or 40 percent of people were found not guilty during a trial. The public would ask why so many innocent people were being charged,” Takai told AFP, adding that courts have increasingly been granting bail. The Ghosn case, however, “proves that there are easy escape routes for wealthy people with backing who want to flee overseas, no matter how strictly courts impose bail conditions”, said Tsunehiko Maeda, a former prosecutor. “We can expect prosecutors to oppose future bail requests much more robustly.” Critics including rights groups such as Amnesty International have derided Japan’s system as “hostage justice”, designed to break morale and force confessions from suspects.
Every move monitored
When safely in Lebanon, Ghosn pressed this point again, saying he “would no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system”. However, when pleading for bail in his only public court appearance, Ghosn said he was “looking forward to beginning the process of defending myself against the accusations that have been made against me”.One of his lawyers at the time said there was no way a tycoon as famous as Ghosn could escape with the world’s media and prosecutors monitoring his every move. “There is no risk that he will run away. He’s CEO of French company Renault. He’s widely known so it’s difficult for him to escape,” argued the attorney, Go Kondo. His lead lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, confessed he was “dumbfounded” by news of his flight, but he also said he could “sympathise” with some of Ghosn’s comments about the justice system. “I thought it was not unreasonable that Mr. Ghosn has come to feel that way,” Hironaka told reporters in Tokyo. “How he was arrested and kept in detention; how they gathered evidence; the way they allowed meetings with Carole (his wife), and how they disclosed evidence. There must have been many areas that were not acceptable in the eyes of Mr. Ghosn.”
Lebanese Lawyers Want Ghosn Prosecuted over Israel Trip
Agence France Presse/Naharnet 02/2020
Lebanese lawyers on Thursday filed a report to the judiciary demanding fugitive auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn be prosecuted over a trip he made to Israel as Renault-Nissan chairman in 2008. Ghosn — who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship — jumped bail in Tokyo in mysterious circumstances and arrived in his native Lebanon early on Monday. The tycoon had traveled to Israel in 2008 to support a partnership with Shai Agassi, an Israeli entrepreneur who had launched an ill-fated electric vehicle venture called “Project Better Place”. Three lawyers “submitted a report to the public prosecutor against businessman Carlos Ghosn for the crime of having entered an enemy country and violated the boycott law,” the state news agency reported. They said several contracts had been signed during his January 2008 trip and added that Ghosn had taken part in several economic conferences. “Doing business with Israel is not a matter of opinion — any normalization is forbidden by law,” Hassan Bazzi, one of the lawyers, told AFP. Lebanon is technically still at war with Israel, which occupied the south of the country until 2000, and forbids its citizens from traveling there. Interpol, the international police cooperation body, has issued a “red notice” for Ghosn’s arrest in the wake of him fleeing Japan, but Lebanese judicial sources have said he cannot be extradited there. Ghosn stands accused in Japan of deferring part of his salary until after his retirement and concealing this from shareholders, as well as siphoning off millions in Nissan cash for his own purposes. He has denied all charges and has announced a press conference for next week. Ghosn entered Lebanon on a private jet from Turkey using his French passport, according to airport documents seen by AFP. “Where were the public prosecutor and general security when Ghosn visited Lebanon, after he traveled to occupied Palestine and was photographed there?,” Bazzi asked. General security is Lebanon’s main intelligence agency, which routinely investigates Lebanese citizens suspected of ties with Israel. “Lebanon prosecutes poor people while those who have earned millions by investing with the enemy are treated as national heroes,” Bazzi said. In 2017, French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri was arrested and briefly questioned for filming part of his film “The Attack” in Israel.
Lebanese lawyers file charges against Carlos Ghosn for Israel visits
The National/January 03/2020
Under Lebanese law, citizens are not allowed to travel to Israel or have contact with Israelis
Three Lebanese lawyers have filed a request for charges against former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn for entering Israel in breach of domestic law. Mr Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian passports, arrived in Lebanon this week in mysterious circumstances after fleeing Japan, where he was expected to face trial on financial misconduct charges. The lawyers accuse Mr Ghosn, 65, of signing contracts and attending several high-profile conferences in Israel, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. Lebanese law bars its citizens from visiting Israel or communicating with Israelis. The two countries have never signed a peace treaty nor established diplomatic relations after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.In 2008, Mr Ghosn, then head of French-Japanese car maker Renault Nissan, met president Shimon Peres and prime minister Ehud Olmert on a visit to Israel to sign a deal for mass-producing electric cars.
At the time, Hezbollah affiliated news website Al Ahed described the visit as “controversial”. The Iran-backed group, which wields considerable political power in Lebanon, fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006. That did not stop Mr Ghosn from enjoying popular support in Lebanon. In August 2017, he attended a ceremony in Beirut during which the national post office unveiled a stamp with his image. One of the three lawyers, Hassan Bazzi, did not respond to a request for comment from The National asking why he waited 12 years to take legal action against Mr Ghosn. His colleague, Jad Tohme, accused Lebanese politicians of remaining silent in the face of a clear “security breach”, NNA reported. Lebanese authorities are usually swift to move against citizens suspected of breaking the law regarding Israel. In 2017, French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiry was briefly detained for shooting part of a 2013 movie in Israel.Lebanese lawyer Ayman Raad, who is not involved in the case, told The National that the general prosecutor is not obliged to go ahead with an investigation.
Lebanon’s Ambassador to Japan denies his embassy helped Carlos Ghosn escape
Arab News/January 03/2010
The Lebanese Ambassador to Japan has strongly denied his embassy was involved in the dramatic escape of Carlos Ghosn in an exclusive statement to Arab News Japan, after widespread accusations in the media. The fugitive former Nissan boss made global headlines with his Hollywood-esque escape from Japan, after somehow slipping past immigration authorities and checkpoints to fly out in a cargo plane to Turkey and finally arriving on New Year’s Eve in Lebanon via private jet. An arrest warrant for Ghosn was issued by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Thursday, according to a Lebanese judicial source. Lebanon’s ambassador to Japan, Nidal Yehya, issued a statement to Arab News Japan on Thursday saying: “The Lebanese Embassy in Tokyo is keen to inform Japanese public opinion that the Lebanese embassy had absolutely no relationship or interference with how Carlos Ghosn got out of Japan, and his violation of the conditions for his release on bail. “Rather, the Embassy has always stressed to him that he must abide by all the conditions of his release, as decided by the Criminal Court in Tokyo, in order to ensure his health and to ensure the proper preparation of the defence for the cases brought against him.” Ambassador Yehya spoke out after media reports accused the Embassy of involvement. Yōichi Masuzoe, who served as governor of the Japanese capital from 2014 to 2016, accused the Embassy of misusing its diplomatic privileges. He tweeted to his 161,900 followers: “The immigration system for entry and exit procedures are very strict. There is also special auditing of private jets. “The officials there could not be mistaken in such a situation. I think that the Embassy of Lebanon is involved somehow in the escape of Carlos Ghosn because of the use of diplomatic privileges. “As for Ghosn, he may have fled because he wants the Japanese government to thoroughly clarify the fact.”Masuzoe is a controversial figure in Japanese politics. He was a member of the House of Councillors, the upper house of Japan’s parliament the National Diet, from 2001 to 2013 before being elected as Governor of Tokyo in 2014. But in 2016, he was forced to resign over allegations of misuse of public funds. While an investigation found no criminal behaviour, he faced a vote of no confidence after details emerged of flamboyant spending on hotels, restaurants and travel, and he resigned. The statement followed a day of developments surrounding Carlos Ghosn’s escape. In Tokyo, Japanese prosecutors raided the Tokyo home Ghosn with officers seen entering the property. In Turkey, police detained seven people – four pilots, a cargo company manager and two airport workers – after the interior ministry launched a probe into the transit of ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, who after fleeing Japan stopped in Turkey on his way to Lebanon, broadcaster NTV said on Thursday. And, in France junior economy minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said the state ‘will not extradite’ Ghosn if he arrives in the country.
Presidency Denies Aoun Welcomed Fugitive Ghosn
Agence France Presse/Naharnet 02/2020
The Lebanese presidency on Thursday denied reports that President Michel Aoun had welcomed fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn upon his arrival in the country. The French-Lebanese tycoon, who had been under house arrest in Japan over several counts of financial misconduct, escaped in mysterious circumstances and arrived in Beirut on Monday. Several media outlets reported that he had been greeted by Aoun but a senior presidency official denied the two men had met. “He was not received at the presidency and did not meet the president,” the official told AFP. Ghosn flew in from Istanbul on a private jet and has since been reunited with friends and family. Ghosn said he would speak to the media next week. One of his lawyers in Lebanon, Carlos Abou Jaoude, said a date for the press conference had yet to be determined. He entered Lebanon on a French passport, according to airport documents seen by AFP. The public Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the court in Tokyo had allowed Ghosn to keep a second French passport so long as it were kept “in a locked case” with the key held by his lawyers. The exact circumstances of Ghosn’s daring escape from Japan, where he had been released on bail in April pending trial after 130 days in prison, remain unclear, though colourful rumours abound. One claim in the Lebanese media is that the auto mogul, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities, was sprung from his Tokyo residence in a musical instrument case — a story a source in his entourage denied. How Ghosn was able to jump bail has led to a Japanese investigation into what is seen as an embarrassing security lapse.Ghosn stands accused of deferring part of his salary until after his retirement and concealing this from shareholders, as well as syphoning off millions in Nissan cash for his own purposes. Ghosn has repeatedly denied all charges against him, and said that he fled to Lebanon to escape a “rigged” Japanese justice system. Some Lebanese see Ghosn as a symbol of their country’s fabled entrepreneurial genius and a proud representative of its vast diaspora.The mood has changed since his November 2018 arrest, however, and, weeks into an unprecedented wave of protests against corruption and nepotism, activists saw his return as another manifestation of privilege and impunity for the super-rich.
Carlos Ghosn’s Escape: What We Know
Agence France Presse/Naharnet 02/2020
From jumping bail in Japan and fleeing to Lebanon to be met with an arrest notice from Interpol, Carlos Ghosn has had a busy three days as a fugitive. Here’s what we know about the former Renault-Nissan boss’ escape.
Hid in an instrument case
The exact circumstances of his departure from Japan, where he was under house arrest pending trial, are still shrouded in mystery. According to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, Ghosn was smuggled out by private security operatives who pretended to be part of a music group for a Christmas party at his residence. Quoting a Lebanese consultant in Tokyo, Kyodo said Ghosn hid in an instrument case before boarding a private jet — a scenario a member of Ghosn’s entourage has denied. Ghosn is believed to have taken a private jet from Kansai Airport in western Japan on December 29, to Istanbul. It is believed that he then flew from there to Beirut.
Turkish investigation
Turkey’s interior ministry has opened an investigation into Ghosn’s apparent transfer between private jets at an Istanbul airport on Monday.Officials questioned seven people, including four pilots, as part of the probe, news agency DHA reported Thursday. The investigation is focused on two flights. The first, a Bombardier labelled TC-TSR, flew from Osaka in Japan, landed in Istanbul at 5:15 am and parked in a hangar. The second was a private jet to Beirut, a Bombardier Challenger 300 TC-RZA, which left 45 minutes later, according to DHA. Ghosn said in a statement on Thursday that he acted alone without his family’s help.
Four passports
There is no emigration data showing Ghosn’s departure from Japan but he entered Lebanon on a French passport, according to airport documents seen by AFP. Lebanon said the former car mogul — who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationalities — had entered the country “legally” at dawn on Monday. His three passports were held by his Japanese lawyers, to limit the risk of flight. Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the court in Tokyo had nonetheless allowed Ghosn to keep a second French passport so long as it was kept “in a locked case” with the key held by his lawyers.
‘Red notice’
Interpol, the international police cooperation body, has issued a “red notice” for Ghosn’s arrest in the wake of him fleeing Japan. However, a Lebanese judicial source told AFP that Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition agreement under which Ghosn could be sent back to Tokyo. Ghosn stands accused in Japan of deferring part of his salary until after his retirement and concealing this from shareholders, as well as siphoning off millions in Nissan cash for his own purposes. His home in France was searched in June as part of a probe into his sumptuous marriage celebrations at the Palace of Versailles in 2016.
And three lawyers in Lebanon submitted a report to the public prosecutor Thursday demanding that the businessman be prosecuted for a trip he made to Israel in 2008. Details of just how he escaped could be clarified on Monday when the former auto executive is to speak to the press in Beirut.
Runway to Runaway: Carole Ghosn, Wife of Fugitive Tycoon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet 02/2020
Carole Ghosn, who not so long ago was an influential but discreet figure in the New York fashion world, has been thrust into the limelight by her tycoon husband Carlos’ arrest and subsequent flight from Japan. The 53-year-old second wife of the former Nissan boss, who like him also has Lebanese citizenship, has vocally led the campaign for her husband’s freedom but what role she played in his epic escape remains unclear. Carole was reunited with her husband on Monday after he jumped bail in Japan, where he had been jailed and then held under house arrest over several counts of financial misconduct. Little known in her birth country, the elegant entrepreneur often seen sporting flowing blonde hair spent a big part of her life in the United States. But over the past year, she has criss-crossed the globe, indefatigably spearheading a campaign to clear her husband’s name. Carole was not with him on November 19, 2018 when he was dramatically arrested aboard his private jet at a Japanese airport and was shocked to learn the news thousands of kilometers away. She was prevented from seeing her husband during his detention and initially kept largely silent about his case but was ever-present after he was released on bail to a central Tokyo apartment on March 6.
‘Traumatized’
The tycoon’s wife appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron, complaining in an interview with the newspaper Journal du Dimanche that the silence of French authorities in the case was “deafening.” She also contacted the White House and gave a tearful interview to U.S. media in which she said her 65-year-old husband was in poor health, exacerbated by what she described as “mental abuse” while he was detained. “During the month he was free, they tried to live normally, go for walks, eat good meals,” said a Tokyo-based friend of the couple. This was in spite of the photographers who camped outside their residence — to Carole’s visible annoyance. The respite was brief and Carlos was rearrested at dawn on April 4 to answer further allegations — an event that “traumatized” her, according to her friend. In interviews she claimed that prosecutors scoured their 50-square-meter apartment, searched her, took her passport and even accompanied her to the bathroom. “It was a huge trial, among the worst moments of her life,” said the couple’s French lawyer, Francois Zimeray, who praised her for her “dignity” under pressure. Using another passport, she then left Japan for France but returned a few days later to face questioning and show “she had nothing to hide.”Her friend told AFP: “She has decided to fight for her husband because she loves him and she believes in his innocence. She won’t leave him because she knows that for him, his defense is the biggest challenge of his life.” Media reports gave colorful accounts of Ghosn’s escape, spirited out of his home in an instrument case by a former U.S. marine and a private security operative from a Lebanese firm posing as musicians hired for a Christmas party. The former Nissan chairman insisted on Thursday that he had not received help from any government and had organized his escape “alone,” denying reports that his wife orchestrated the daring operation.
‘Beauty Yachts’
Born in 1966 in Beirut as Carole Nahas, the businesswoman has spent most of her life in the U.S. She holds American nationality along with her three children from her first marriage. Highly educated and successful in her own right, in the 2000s she founded a company selling luxury kaftans.
She met Carlos and the couple fell quickly in love, with Carole providing a calming influence on the impulsive tycoon, according to one friend. They were married in 2016 at the gilded Versailles Palace near Paris in a lavish ceremony that has since caught the attention of authorities amid questions over how the wedding was funded. According to sources close to the case, she is named as president of a company used to buy a luxury yacht that prosecutors suspect was purchased partly with funds diverted from Nissan. Authorities have questioned her over the British Virgin Isles-registered company “Beauty Yachts” but she has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
Ghosn used one of two French passports to flee: media
AFP, Tokyo/Thursday, 2 January 2020
Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, who fled to Lebanon to avoid a Japanese trial, was carrying one of his two French passports, local media said Thursday, as Japan launched a probe into the embarrassing security lapse. Ghosn, who faces multiple charges of financial misconduct that he denies, won bail in April but with strict conditions, including a bar on overseas travel. His lead lawyer Junichiro Hironaka has said lawyers hold three passports belonging to the international tycoon, who holds French, Brazilian and Lebanese nationalities. But public broadcaster NHK said the court had allowed him to keep a second French passport so long as it were kept “in a locked case” with the key held by his lawyers. There is no emigration data showing Ghosn’s departure from Japan but he entered Lebanon on a French passport, NHK said. Prosecutors and police are poised to launch an investigation into the stunning escape, suspecting he departed “in an unlawful manner,” NHK said. Authorities plan to analyze security camera footage from his residence and other places they suspect Ghosn appeared before he fled, NHK said. Police suspect “several” people accompanied him to help him escape, it added. Immediate confirmation of the report was not available. When his defense lawyers were arguing for bail, prosecutors claimed he was a flight risk with powerful connections, but Ghosn himself had said he wanted to be tried to prove his innocence. One of his lawyers also said he was such a famous face that he had no chance to slip away undetected.
Some countries allow people to have two passports of the same nationality, for reasons including if they are travelling to nations in conflict with one another. Meanwhile, France says it will not extradite Ghosn, if he arrives in the country, a French minister said, according to AFP.
Lebanon receives Interpol wanted notice for Nissan ex-chair
Associated Press/January 02/2020
Interpol’s so-called Red Notices are requests to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a wanted fugitive.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s justice minister said Thursday that Lebanon has received an international wanted notice from Interpol for Nissan’s ex-chair Carlos Ghosn, four days after he fled Japan to Lebanon to evade trial on financial misconduct charges.
Albert Serhan told The Associated Press in an interview that the Red Notice for the former automotive titan was received earlier Thursday by the prosecution, and that Lebanon will do its part. Ghosn, who is Lebanese and also holds French and Brazilian passports, skipped bail before his much-anticipated trial in Japan, which was to start in April. He arrived in Lebanon, his country of origin, on Monday via Turkey and hasn’t been seen in public since. In a statement, he said he had fled to avoid “political persecution.”Authorities have said that he entered legally on a French passport.
Interpol’s so-called Red Notices are requests to law enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a wanted fugitive. Serhan, the minister, said the Lebanese prosecution “will carry out its duties,” suggesting for the first time that Ghosn may be brought in for questioning. “We are a country of law and respect the law and … I can confirm that the Lebanese state will implement the law,” he said. “The prosecution will not stay cross-armed regarding this red notice.” He said the prosecution will “carry out its duties” by summoning Ghosn and listening to him and “at a later stage if there are any measures to be taken, then the precautionary measures will be taken.” Serhan added that Lebanon has not received any official extradition request from Japan and that the two countries did not have an extradition treaty, ruling out the possibility that Beirut would hand Ghosn over to Japan. “Mr. Ghosn arrived in Lebanon as any ordinary citizen. … Lebanese authorities have no security or judiciary charges against him, he entered the border like any other Lebanese using a legal passport,” he said. Ghosn’s sudden arrival in Beirut a few months ahead of his much-anticipated trial shocked Japan and confounded authorities. How he was able to flee Japan, avoiding the tight surveillance he was under, is still a mystery. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said Thursday that Turkish authorities had detained seven people as part of an investigation into how Ghosn fled to Lebanon via Istanbul.
The private DHA news agency reported that those detained are 4 pilots, a cargo company manager and two airport workers.
In Japan, prosecutors on Thursday raided Ghosn’s Tokyo home. Japanese media showed investigators entering the home, which was Ghosn’s third residence in Tokyo since he was first arrested a year ago. Authorities have now searched each one.
Tokyo prosecutors and police did not immediately comment. Government offices in Japan are closed this week for the New Year’s holidays. Ghosn said Tuesday in a statement that he left for Lebanon because he thought the Japanese judicial system was unjust, and he wanted to avoid “political persecution.”
He said he would talk to reporters next week.Lebanon said earlier that Ghosn entered the country legally, and there was no reason to take action against him. Ghosn’s lawyers in Japan said they had no knowledge of the escape and they had all his passports. Ghosn has French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK TV, without identifying sources, reported Thursday that Ghosn had two French passports. Earlier, Japanese reports said there were no official records in Japan of Ghosn’s departure, but a private jet had left from a regional airport to Turkey. The Hurriyet newspaper said the plane carrying Ghosn landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport at 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 29. Ghosn was not registered upon landing and was smuggled onboard another plane that left for Lebanon, the paper reported. Ghosn, who was charged in Japan with under-reporting his future compensation and breach of trust, has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped-up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA.
The 1.5 billion yen ($14 million) bail that Ghosn posted on two separate instances to get out of detention is being revoked.
Renowned Lebanese senior news anchor Najwa Qassem dies at 51
Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/January 02/2010
The Arab media industry ushered in the new year on a somber note with the sudden passing of one of the titans of the field, Lebanese senior news anchor Najwa Qassem.
Qassem, a journalist known for her intrepid reporting on the Iraq and Lebanese wars, was 51 at the time of her passing and still working with Al Arabiya and Al Hadath News Channels.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, who is also owner of Future TV where Qassem began her career, tweeted his condolences, describing her death as “A real and sad shock,” adding that she “shone on the screen as a glowing star.”
Highlights of her broad-reaching career include being named one of the 100 most powerful women in the Arab world by Arabian Business in 2011, as well as Best Female Presenter by the Arab Media Festival in 2006. Her award-winning career began in 1992 with Future TV News Station in Lebanon where she hosted several shows and reported on Israeli military operations against Lebanon and its withdrawal from South Lebanon. Arab News Editor in Chief, Faisal J Abbas worked with Qassem at both Future Television of Lebanon and later at Al Arabiya News channel.
“I have had the honor of knowing Najwa since 1999, and the pleasure of working side by side with her at both Future Television of Lebanon and at Al Arabiya News Channel in Dubai,” Abbas said. “In every place she stepped foot in, Najwa always managed to set new standards in professionalism. She has remained remarkably humble despite having interviewed world leaders and covered two regional wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
“Her professionalism, good soul and incredible sense of humor will be truly missed. My sincere condolences to her family and to all our colleagues in the Arab media industry,” he added. Group TV Director at MBC Ali Jaber, who worked with Qassem at Future TV, said he spoke to her a short time before her death.“She was my first recruit to Future TV. I auditioned her first and it took me just few minutes to conclude that she will reign over the screen…she did ever since, on every screen she appeared on,” Jaber told Arab News, adding: “She was a true journalist and a great friend. We kept in touch until few hours before she died.”In 2003, Qassem moved to Al Arabiya News Channel where she survived a bombing on Al Arabiya’s Baghdad news station while covering the Iraq war – eight of her colleagues were killed in the attack. She reported on the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and on the front lines of the Lebanese-Israeli war in 2006. She hosted several news shows and current affairs bulletins with Al Hadath, having covered elections, conflicts, summits and more. Al Arabiya Senior News Anchor Lara Nabhan recounted fond memories with Qassem where she used to order food for everyone during breaking news segments knowing that her colleagues would not have time to eat.
“She used to always, in particular with me, watch and follow my coverage from home and then call me during the break to give me advice on questions I should have asked as well as praise me for the ones that I did. She was always supportive and helpful, especially when I needed advice on how to approach certain guests, and she would always give me the right angle to go with. Personally, she was very kind and helpful with me and she taught me well,” Nabhan told Arab News.
Tributes have filled social media in the Arab world with words of praise and condolences to Qassem, from those who worked with her to those who grew used to watching her on the news.
