Tokyo asks Interpol to issue wanted notice for ex-Nissan CEO's wife: Reports

Japan's investigative bodies have sent a request to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a wanted notice for former CEO of carmaker Nissan Carlos Ghosn's wife, Carole Ghosn, the Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing sources close to the matter.

Tokyo prosecutors suspect Carole Ghosn of having lied to the Japanese investigators in April as they probed her husband on financial misconduct charges. Therefore, earlier this week, they obtained an arrest warrant for her for alleged perjury. As of now, Carole is in Lebanon, which does not have an extradition deal with Japan, with her husband, who skipped bail in Tokyo, where he faced charges of financial misconduct.

Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and placed under house arrest under close surveillance, awaiting trial later this year. In early January, he announced that he had arrived in his home country of Lebanon. It remains unknown how he sidestepped the Japanese law enforcement and crossed international borders without any of his Brazilian, French and Lebanese passports.

While the Japanese authorities reportedly had no record of Ghosn leaving the country, Lebanese media speculated that he had a private security firm arrange his escape on a private jet. Al Akhbar newspaper cited a source as saying that Ghosn had arrived in Beirut from Istanbul on a private jet.

In addition to not having an extradition agreement with Japan, the Lebanese authorities stand by that there were no legal grounds for Ghosn to be prosecuted and not be able to leave Japan.

On Thursday, a court in Lebanon banned Ghosn from leaving the country after Lebanese prosecutors had received an Interpol "red notice" for the businessman's arrest. However, a source in Lebanon's Palace of Justice told Sputnik that the temporary travel ban for Ghosn was merely a standard procedure. According to the source, Ghosn's extradition is excluded, as the Lebanese law does not allow the extradition of citizens to another country.