Carlos Ghosn, a fugitive former car CEO, gestures during an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon, on June 14, 2021. Mohamed Azakir/Mohamed Azakir/Mohamed Azakir/Mohamed Azakir/Mohamed Reuters, TOKYO, June 29 – Michael Taylor, a former member of the United States Army Special Forces, told a Tokyo court on Tuesday that he regretted assisting Carlos Ghosn in fleeing Japan and that the former chairman of Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) should have stayed to face charges of financial malfeasance. Taylor, who was brought shackled into court with his son Peter, bowed profoundly to the three judges who would decide their sentence, pleading with them to enable him to visit his crippled father in the United States. In a quavering voice, he stated, “I truly regret my acts and sincerely apologise for causing hardships for the court system and the Japanese people.” When the prosecutor asked if he thought Ghosn should have stayed in Japan, Taylor said yes. The two men pleaded guilty this month to charges that they illegally assisted Ghosn in escaping from western Japan’s Kansai airport in a box aboard a private plane to Lebanon in December 2019. They were extradited to Japan from the United States in March and are being jailed in the same Tokyo jail as Ghosn. They face up to three years in prison. The Taylors were paid $1.3 million for their services and another $500,000 for legal fees, according to prosecutors. On Tuesday, the older Taylor said that a cousin of Ghosn’s, who happens to be his wife’s sister-in-law, persuaded him to take the position. He also expressed compassion for Ghosn and his wife Carole after learning that Ghosn might face a 15-year prison sentence in Japan. He claimed the couple advised him that skipping bail was not a crime in Japan. The Taylors’ lawyers in the United States fought for months to keep them from being extradited, arguing that they couldn’t be prosecuted for assisting a “bail jumper” and that they would be subjected to unrelenting interrogation and torture. Suspects in Japan are interrogated without the presence of their lawyers, and bail is frequently rejected before to trial. Taylor claimed the prosecutor who questioned him after his detention was “respectable and honorable” when prosecutors inquired if he had been treated unfairly in Japan. Ghosn was on trial for allegedly understating his remuneration in Nissan’s financial statements by 9.3 billion yen ($84 million) over a decade and enriching himself at his employer’s expense through payments to auto dealerships at the time of his escape. Ghosn denies guilt and remains a fugitive in Lebanon, where he grew up and for which Japan has no extradition treaty. Greg Kelly, a former Nissan executive accused of assisting Ghosn in concealing his pay, is also on trial in Tokyo. He also refutes the allegations. (1 dollar Equals 110.6600 yen) Tim Kelly contributed reporting, and Christopher Cushing edited the piece. The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles are our standards. Continue reading
