Lebanon and Japan have 40 days to agree on Ghosn's fate -sources (updated)

Renaissance Global

24/01/2020 13:07

(Adds Interpol comment that 40-day period determined locally)
    BEIRUT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Lebanon and Japan have about 40
days to decide whether ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will be
extradited to Japan or stand trial in Lebanon, a judicial source
and a source close to Ghosn said on Thursday, following his
escape from Japan last month.
    Ghosn fled to Lebanon, his childhood home, as he was
awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of
trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he
denies.
    Japan and Lebanon have no extradition agreement and Lebanon
does not typically hand over its nationals. Ghosn's legal team
is hoping to hold the trial in Lebanon, where the former auto
executive has deep ties and hopes to clear his name.
    Japan has in recent days asked Lebanon to clarify what files
Tokyo needs to send as part of an official extradition request,
the two sources said.
    "They came back and requested a clarification. Today, we
sent that to the Japanese," the judicial source said.
    That communication is significant because, according to
Lebanon's rules for dealing with Interpol notices, it triggers a
roughly 40-day period by the end of which agreement must be
reached between the countries on where and how Ghosn will stand
trial, the sources said.
    Japan must now either send a formal extradition request to
Lebanon or send Ghosn's file to Beirut and agree on a process
for trying him there, the source close to Ghosn said.
    An Interpol spokesperson said on Friday the organisation did
not itself dictate a timeframe or require any action to be taken
by countries and such a framework is set locally.
    Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, French, and Brazilian
nationality, was questioned earlier this month by Lebanese
prosecutors who confiscated his passport and imposed a travel
ban as part of the Interpol arrest warrant process.
    The source close to Ghosn said the former executive can
appeal to Lebanon's prosecutor to drop the ban and return his
passport if Japan does not respond within the timeframe.    
    Japanese prosecutors have said they are still pushing for
Ghosn to be tried in Japan.
    Ghosn has struck out at what he has called Japan's unjust
judicial system and said the alternative to fleeing would have
been to spend the rest of his life languishing in Tokyo without
a fair trial.

 (Reporting by Eric Knecht and Laila Bassam; editing by Ghaida
Ghantous and Nick Macfie)
 ((eric.knecht@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
eric.knecht.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))