Two Americans arrested on suspicion of aiding Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan to Lebanon have admitted to the charges, telling investigators that they got involved in the plot at the request of Ghosn's wife, and that she deceived them, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Michael Taylor, 60, and his son Peter, 28, have been arrested on suspicion of concealing a criminal by the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. Michael Taylor is a former member of the U.S. Army special forces known as the Green Berets.
Prosecutors are expected to indict the two men at the Tokyo District Court soon. Their current detention periods expire on Monday.
According to statements by prosecutors, the Taylors conspired with George-Antoine Zayek, 61, to take and guard the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman from Tokyo to Osaka while he was out on bail, before loading a box in which Ghosn was hidden onto a private jet. Zayek, the elder Taylor and Ghosn then flew out of Japan from Kansai Airport on Dec. 29, 2019.
Japanese prosecutors have also obtained an arrest warrant for Zayek on suspicion of concealing a criminal.
According to sources, the two men said during questioning that Ghosn's wife, Carole Nahas, 54, approached them after he was released on bail in April 2019 and asked them through an acquaintance to help her husband escape.
They also told investigators that they had actually met her and had been persuaded by her to accept the request.
Ghosn has been indicted over violation of the Companies Law, while an arrest warrant for suspected perjury has been issued for Carole Nahas.
The Taylors said to prosecutors that Ghosn's wife told them her husband had been tortured in a detention center in Japan, which led them to accept her request, believing what she had said. However, sources said, now that the two men have experienced detention in Japan following their arrest, they have come to realize that there is no torture taking place and that the Japanese criminal justice system is a legitimate one, reaching the conclusion that they were deceived by her.
Meanwhile, investigators have learned that Ghosn, who was allowed to use only a mobile phone provided by his lawyer under the conditions set for his bail, may have had another mobile phone that he used to contact the two men.
The two men were arrested by U.S. authorities in May last year based on arrest warrants obtained by the special investigation squad. They were handed over to Japanese authorities on March 2.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
