Lebanese Lawyers Want Ghosn Prosecuted over Israel Trip
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.
02 January 2020, 18:00
13
If you are a business partner of Bassil in a winery and real estate projects and you have dealt with or visited Israel in the past then it is ok and you are considered a brilliant businessman.
02 January 2020, 18:14
12
Visited Israel?????!!!!
Where is 3abbees ibrahim? Where is the resistance? where is mowaten? where is mystic?
02 January 2020, 20:02
04
Anyone meeting Hizbollah leadership should be prosecuted for Grand treason. Hizb is created, funded and indoctrinated by the criminal regime in Iran and has destroyed Lebanon, the Country with the best potential in the Middle East, so it can transform it into an attack post for Iran policies. Hizb and the cover given by Aoun in Fec 2006 are 99% responsible for our economic bankruptcy, exodus of western corporations from Beirut, investment drought, worldwide isolation, and loss of independence, sovereignty, freedom and democracy. They can hide but cannot escape people justice marching to change history and free Lebanon.
03 January 2020, 10:54
00
I think Ghosn deserves all the punishment he gets, but in this case he should not get anything. This is one of the two reasons why will will never see a shia as a the CEO of a multi-national company (the lawyers confirm this). The other reason is that they have never given priority to education anyway.
