The former CEO of carmakers Nissan and Renault, Carlos Ghosn, has first told himself about how he got out of the country a year and a half after his sensational escape from Japan, where he was under house arrest on suspicion of fraud.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Ghosn tells how an hour and a half in a music box felt like a year and a half. For more than a year, Ghosn was alternately in jail or under house arrest at his home in Tokyo. If convicted, he risked a 15-year prison term.
When Ghosn was told he could no longer contact his wife Carole, the former Nissan CEO decided to attempt an escape. “The plan was that I couldn’t show my face, so I had to hide somewhere. The only way I could hide was in a chest or luggage so that no one would see me and no one would recognize me. Only in that way could the plan work,” said Ghosn. His choice for a music box was “the most logical option since many concerts were taking place in Japan at that time”.
In total, Ghosn estimates that he spent an hour and a half in the coffin, although that felt more like “a year and a half”. “The 30 minutes in the crate waiting for the plane to take off were probably the longest of my life.”
Ghosn eventually landed in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan, allowing Ghosn to spend his days there as a free man.
Michael and Peter Taylor, the two Americans who helped Ghosn escape, have since been extradited to Japan and face up to three years in prison. Ghosn’s former Nissan colleague Greg Kelly also risks a prison staff. So how does Ghosn view those trials against the people left behind in Japan? “I feel sorry for all the people who are victims of the hostage justice system in Japan, everyone,” it sounds.
The full interview with Carlos Ghosn will be broadcast on BBC4 on Wednesday evening at 11 pm.