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© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.French investigators to question Carlos Ghosn in Lebanon
By SARAH EL DEEB BEIRUT©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
28 Comments
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bokuda
France will gather evidence and, if they find enough evidence, they will prosecute with the collaboration of the Lebanese.
Such a fine work.
Jonathan Prin
What is Japan waiting for ?
Ha, I forgot they investigated and had no evidence to submit to Lebanese authorities...
I am not saying French justice is perfect, far from it, but at leastthey do it with the right methods, not the medieval way.
Sal Affist
No matter what happens, as long as Mr. Ghosn has enough money to pay off Lebanese authorities, he has nothing to fear from French or Japanese or other investigators.
Henny Penny
That's not what the article says.
"the 66-year-old businessman is facing a number of legal challenges in France, including tax evasion and alleged money laundering, fraud and misuse of company assets while at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance."
OssanAmerica
Ghosn is not a Japanese national, he has French nationality. The article is about what France is doing.
Alan Harrison
Mr.Ghosn is being questioned (not interrogated) by French prosecutors. He will have the right to a lawyer present, and be given all legal rights and treated fairly and properly. Unlike Japan, in Lebanon and France the Gestapo and kempeitai disappeared many years ago.
Loveline
What?? It would be customary for Japan to send evidence (among other things), if Japan and Lebanon had an extradition treaty. Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty. Ghosn himself knows this and relies on uninformed people to believe otherwise.
bokuda
What?? It would be customary for Lebanon not to bother it's citizens unless there's any evidence of a crime.
Loveline
I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to say, but If (and I mean IF!) Japan and Lebanon had an extradition treaty (again they do not), Japan would likely send a report of the charges, provide evidence, and submit a formal request for extradition. The conditions/details of extradition would depend on the treaty, (which again, does not exist). Hypothetically, Lebanon would then be obliged to to extradite Mr. Ghosn to stand trial. But again there exist no extradition treaty so it is a bit ludicrous that anyone believes that Japan is legally required to send evidence to Mr. Ghosn. Again, Mr. Ghosn himself is well aware of this. Tbh, it actually hurts his credibility when he goes on tv claiming that he is entitled access to the evidence. It shows that he either being dishonest or is horribly misinformed about intl law.
dan
He is possibly guilty of fraud but he would never get a fair trial here under the Japanese 'guilty until proven innocent' legal system and archaic long detention ( incarceration) in torturous conditions.
Why is it that high ranking Japanese politicians and elites don't receive the same kind of treatment before charges are made against them that Ghosn did?
Perhaps or should I say it is probable that Ghosn was singled out as a foreigner and the authorities had a bone to pick with him as did the disgusting Nissan executives.
bokuda
There's no extradition treaty France & Lebanon either
But French prosecutors are having the full collaboration of their Lebanon counterparts and are gonna interview Ghosn next month in Lebanon.
The "not having a treaty" sounds more like a lame excuse for not disclosing that there's no evidence at all.
Loveline
@bokuda
1) Mr. Ghosn is a French citizen. I’m not sure they need a treaty?
2)He is not being charged by French authorities. The French authorities are only questioning him he is not been charged. There is a difference
did you read the article?
bokuda
@Loveline
Lebanon asked 3 times, thought the Interpol, to get the evidence that Japan must release, by law, in order to maintain the arrest warrant.
The evidence is gonna be meaningless when Interpol gets tired of waiting.
Soon the arrest warrant will be nullified.
Loveline
@bokudo
i am having a hard time connecting your posts, but since you mention it, Mr. Ghosn wants the evidence partly because he wants a trial in Lebanon. Japanese want him to face trial in Japan. This is why they are not handing over the evidence (and as mentioned earlier are no laws requiring them to turn it over to him). Your theory that they have not submitted evidence because prosecutor’s are trying the fact that they have no real evidence is a borderline conspiracy theory.
bokuda
@Loveline
What makes you think there's any evidence?
Kelly's trial is being a big fiasco 'cause lack of any evidence.
Kaerimashita
Meh. Lebanon ain’t ever letting him be prosecuted abroad.
Lorem ipsum
If what you say is true, then Japan really had no business sending its deputy justice minister all the way to Lebanon to desperately try and convince them to hand over ghosn back to Japan, as Lebanon has no legal obligation to do so.
OssanAmerica
No you have it wrong. Extradition treaties are based on the legal principle of Comity. That is, a crrime in country A is also a crime in country B. Extradition does not require Country A to submit evidence or "prove" anything other than a warrant for the fugitive and the charge. If that charge is one that is also a crime in Country B then the basis of extradition is established. Country A does not have to "prove" anything.
You are correct that Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. Or the United States. Or many other countries.
OssanAmerica
A trial in a Lebanese Court to try Ghosn who is charged under Japanese Law is an impossibility because no Lebanese Court has the jurisdiction. Japan is the only place that charges under Japanese law can be tried.
Japan is not "handing over evidence" because not only is there no requirement to do so, it would be pointless to hand anything over to a forum that has absolutely no jurisdction. A Japanese Court is the only place where such evidence would be entered.
bokuda
That's partially wrong. Country A needs to give evidence strong enough to convince the Judge from Country B to hand over a citizen.
Otherwise the treaties would be politically abused.
If the crime has to be both a crime in Country A and Country B, then Lebanon should serve well enough.
As per today, international comunity have more trust on a Lebanese process than a Japanese.
Oxycodin
The Japanese are paying the French?
Loveline
@OssanAmerica
sigh* I understand the principle of comity. Comity may play a factor in determining whether or not the Lebanese govt actually agrees to extradite Mr. Ghosn. and in theory this would technically depend on the treaty (although it is expected that there would almost certainly be a comity clause, if hypothetically, they even had a treaty). It would not prevent Japan (or any other country for that matter) from requesting extradition (if again, hypothetically they had an extradition treaty). Re: your comments on jurisdiction, I completely agree. That Mr. Ghosn is trying to make the case that his trial be conducted by the Lebanese justice system is ludicrous. But again, because there is no treaty between the two countries, and because Lebanon is a sovereign nation, Lebanon can technically do what they want, provided that they do not violate intl conventions they have previously agreed to. These are basic the basic concepts of intl law.
@Lorem ipsum
Lebanon and Japan are both signatories to an intl convention on corporate corruption. They in fact do have some obligation to comply. At the very least they need to make the case as to why they are not complying with the convention. They may have already done this, I’m not sure.
Loveline
@bokuda- I am truly having trouble keeping up with the randomness of your posts. What this ultimately comes down to is the fact that there is no extradition treaty between the two counties. Lebanese courts have no obligation to prove anything and Japanese authorities are not required to oblige Mr. Ghosn’s request to be given access to the evidence.
bokuda
Japan is not required, but it's been asked so many times to do so.
If you want Lebanon to take your request seriously, you should fulfill their request first... It's common sense.
Hide the evidence only raises more suspicions that if ever was any evidence.
Although watching Kelly's trial it's easy to conclude that there's no evidence at all.
starpunk
He can run but he can't hide. Somebody is going to prosecute him.