Then came
the bizarre story of Carlos Ghosn. To my Brasilian readers, he is a Brasilian
who made good on a grand scale. If you are curious, here is his life story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Ghosn
Carlos ended up in Japan as CEO of
Nissan. If the Japanese authorities are to be believed, he literally used
Nissan bank accounts as his personal ATM. He allegedly lived a grand lifestyle
at the expense of Nissan shareholders. He also failed to report his massive
income and pay taxes on it in Japan.
Carlos was arrested and stayed in a
Japanese jail for a while. He used his public relations apparatus to gain
sympathy for him around the world. Bail is not a right in Japan. Finally the
Japanese authorities allowed him to post bail of roughly $13,800,000 US. He had
to surrender all passports (French, Lebanese and Brasilian). He had to stay in
his apartment under electronic monitoring wearing an ankle bracelet. He was
guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by agents from the prosecutor's office,
Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and an elite private security agency.
If Carlos is to be believed, he
outwitted the electronic monitoring. He evaded three law enforcement agencies
and made his way to some private airport where he flew out of Japan in a
corporate jet that took him to Lebanon after one or two refueling stops.
Japanese can be rigid and bureaucratic. On the other hand, their equivalent of
the US Federal Aviation Administration is very efficient. Any flight by a
corporate jet would have received scrutiny. If he had made it to some jet
aircraft and lifted off, Japanese jet fighters would have been scrambled. If
this failed, his course would have been plotted. Airports where he stopped for
refueling would be asked to detain the plane and him.
Those of you who know me well know that I
am quite familiar with matters relating to international escapes. In 1984 I
made legal history both in the US and Australia. I accomplished something that had not been accomplished in 140 years.
The first problem with this escape
story is that a number of people would be needed to help him including staff at
the Lebanese Embassy in Tokyo. In the process of putting together such a daring
and well-funded plan, someone would slip-up on social media or with a close
person in their life and say something about the plan. If by some miracle this
did not happen, the second major problem is the electronic monitoring device.
The minute someone tampers with it, an alarm goes off. (Forget all the television
shows where crooks outwit electronic monitoring.) Did he bribe Japanese
officials to escape? I doubt it.
A more plausible explanation is that the
Japanese authorities tired of the case. A financial settlement was made
including payment of all back taxes. (Elena believes that large financial
penalties are a better solution to white collar crime, as opposed to massive
prison sentences given in the US and Britain.) Then, as the saying goes,
Japanese authorities "looked the other way" while Ghosn made his getaway.
