quote:

A lawyer for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn says he is "dumbfounded" by the news that his client has fled to Lebanon after jumping bail in Japan.

"We were completely caught by surprise," defence team head Junichiro Hironaka told reporters, adding that he had not spoken with Mr Ghosn.

On Tuesday, Nissan's ex-CEO, who was awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges, confirmed he had left Japan.

He said he had not fled justice but escaped "political persecution".

The 65-year-old was one of the most powerful figures in the global car industry until his arrest in November 2018.

He was born in Brazil to parents of Lebanese descent and was raised in Beirut, before travelling to France for further education.

The French and Lebanese foreign ministries say they have no knowledge of the circumstances of Mr Ghosn's departure from Japan and subsequent arrival in Lebanon.

Lebanese media has said he flew in on a private jet in via Turkey.

quote:

Abe took power promising sweeping economic upgrades, steps to make Japan more welcoming to foreign talent and revisions to the nation’s pacifist postwar constitution.

Ghosn’s saga doesn’t say much about this last priority, but it makes a mockery of the first two.

Strengthened corporate governance was touted as a major victory for Abe’s structural reform drive. In recent years, his government rolled out a United Kingdom-like stewardship code to improve management standards, took steps to give shareholders a greater voice in decisions and encouraged more outside directors. It even prodded Japan Inc. to disclose cross-shareholding relationships, a practice long used to avoid foreign takeover attempts.

Yet accounting scandals at Olympus and Toshiba — along with safety-data fudging at Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, airbag manufacturer Takata and even KYB, maker of earthquake shock absorbers for buildings — show that Japan Inc. still answers to no one. The same goes for Ghosn’s downfall at Nissan.