The case of former CEO of the "Nissan-Renault" group, businessman Carlos Ghosn, has resurfaced following a request received by Lebanese authorities from Turkey seeking to interrogate two Lebanese individuals suspected of being involved in Ghosn's smuggling from Japan to Turkey and then to Lebanon at the end of 2019. Lebanon has promptly cooperated with the Turkish request, with a source revealing to "Asharq Al-Awsat" that a Lebanese civilian pilot (N.M.), who owns a private aircraft company based at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, has been interrogated by the judiciary.
The source mentioned that the pilot's interrogation was carried out "in response to the Turkish request, which calls for Lebanese cooperation starting with questioning this individual as well as another person named George Zayek, who holds both Lebanese and American citizenship." The Turkish authorities accuse the pilot, Zayek, and others of "forming an active group in smuggling operations, including Carlos Ghosn, who was transferred by private jet from Istanbul Airport to Rafic Hariri Airport at midnight on December 29-30, 2019."
Information indicates that "while the private jet was at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, (Nikola K) was seen on the airport ground with Zayek, along with Turkish citizen Okan Kozamin, before the flight took off for Beirut." Lebanon received a copy of the Red Notice issued by Interpol at the beginning of 2020 based on a Japanese arrest warrant issued against Ghosn following his escape. The Lebanese judiciary executed this notice by interrogating Ghosn, preventing him from traveling, confiscating his passports, and requesting that Japanese authorities submit an extradition file, but Tokyo has not responded to this request to date.
According to information obtained by "Asharq Al-Awsat," the interrogated pilot denied any involvement in Ghosn's escape, stating that "his presence at Istanbul Airport during Carlos Ghosn's arrival was coincidental." He claimed that "the aforementioned Okan Kozamin is his partner and holds shares in the private airline, and the envelope he received from him contained a contract for operating the private aircraft they own."
The source clarified that "the interrogated pilot was repeatedly questioned about whether he traveled from Japan to Istanbul and then to Beirut on December 29, 2019, which he denied, asserting that he did not accompany Carlos Ghosn on his escape flight but was a victim of being at the Istanbul airport at the moment of Ghosn's arrival. He also denied having any information about the identity of the individuals who came on the private jet that transported Ghosn from Istanbul to Beirut."
He noted that he "went to Atatürk Airport coinciding with the arrival of the former Nissan CEO to prepare a plane he intended to travel on, and at the same time met with his Turkish partner Okan Kozamin, who handed him an envelope containing contracts for operating and leasing aircraft to other companies, not money."
The Turkish memorandum, which reopened the Ghosn case, confirmed that "there are other individuals involved in Ghosn's smuggling, including American Michael Taylor and his son Peter, who were arrested in the United States and admitted that they participated in the operation with George Zayek, who is a Lebanese-American, and that surveillance cameras captured the three of them at Tokyo Airport during Ghosn's escape."
The informed source confirmed that "the judiciary has also interrogated George Zayek regarding the content of the Turkish request and provided the Turkish judiciary with the interrogation records, and Lebanon has provided the Turkish side with the investigation records and is awaiting whether the Turks have any other demands." A judicial source indicated that the public prosecutor "sent memos to notify the defendants of the interrogation date through the Japanese embassy in Beirut."
