two foreigners involved in its transit through Istanbul, according to Ankara

The conditions for Carlos Ghosn’s incredible flight from Japan are still very mysterious. Turkey announced on Saturday January 4 that two foreigners were involved in transit via Istanbul from the fallen car magnate on New Years Eve.

“There are two foreigners involved in the transit”, said Turkish Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül in an interview with the channel CNN Turk. He did not provide any details on their nationality or the exact role they had played.

Carlos Ghosn, former boss of Renault and Nissan, arrived in Beirut on January 30, the day after his surprise departure from Japan. He is suspected of having boarded a private jet at Kansai International Airport, near Osaka (west of Japan), to go to Istanbul, from where he then flew to Beirut with another aircraft.

An organized departure “alone”

Prosecuted for financial embezzlement, he was placed under house arrest in Tokyo at the end of April after 130 days in prison, under strict conditions and with the ban on leaving the country pending his trial. Carlos Ghosn, Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian, assured Thursday that he organized “alone” his departure to Lebanon, without however giving details of his escape.

Turkey has already opened an investigation into the conditions under which Carlos Ghosn was able to transit through the Turkish economic capital and is interested in two thefts considered suspicious, according to the DHA news agency.

7 people arrested

After the arrest on Thursday of seven people including four pilots, five people have been remanded in custody, Gul said, noting that the prosecution’s investigation is continuing. According to the minister, there have been no legal requests from the Japanese authorities in connection with the case.

The investigation focuses on two private flights, according to DHA, one from Osaka in Japan, registered TC-TSR and who landed around 5:15 am (2:15 GMT) on Monday at Atatürk airport, closed to commercial flights but used for cargo and private flights and another, around 06:00 (03:00 GMT) the same day, a Bombardier Challenger 300 registered TC-RZA, which took off from the same airport bound for Beirut.