A law firm that counseled fugitive former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn had its office searched by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Wednesday.
The Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo office of lawyer Junichiro Hironaka was where Ghosn spent much time while out on bail. Currently in Lebanon, Ghosn had been indicted on charges including violating the Companies Law.
When Ghosn was granted bail in March and April last year, he was allowed to use a computer provided by his lawyers at Hironaka's firm and often visited the office in the daytime.
On Jan. 3, prosecutors requested Ghosn's lawyers to voluntarily submit the computer Ghosn was using, but the lawyers refused. The prosecutors obtained a warrant and went to seize it, but on Jan. 8 the lawyers refused to hand it over based on the right to refuse seizure in the Code of Criminal Procedure. On Jan. 16, Hironaka resigned as Ghosn's defense counsel along with other lawyers, including Takashi Takano.
As for Ghosn's flight from Japan, according to sources, he left his house in the Azabu area of Tokyo, at about 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 29, 2019, and joined three men at a luxury hotel in the Roppongi area of the city. After Ghosn went to Osaka with two of them by a Shinkansen bullet train, he is believed to have then left the country hidden in a box carried to a private jet that left Kansai International Airport, entering Lebanon via Turkey.
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