The flight of a car-industry megastar shocks Japan
Jan 2nd 2020TOKYOCARLOS GHOSN, a former chairman of Nissan and Renault, would ring in the new year at his luxurious home in Tokyo. Or so Japanese prosecutors thought until two days before the start of the 2020s. News that Mr Ghosn, 65, had other plans came from an unexpected source: a report by the Associated Press quoting Ricardo Karam, a Lebanese television host and friend of Mr Ghosn. He said the megastar executive had skipped bail and fled to Lebanon. In a statement released a day later through a spokeswoman, Mr Ghosn insisted: “I have not fled justice—I have escaped injustice and political persecution.”Who ya gonna call? Ghosnbusters!Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address