Japan to revise measures for immigration, bail conditions

Tokyo, Jan 6 (IANS) Japanese authorities announcedon Monday that they will revise measures concerning immigration and bail conditions to prevent escapes such as that of ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

The announcement was made by Justice Minister Masako Mori in her first press conference after Ghosn fled the country while out on bail and facing charges of alleged financial misconduct, reports Efe news.

Mori stressed that Ghosn's departure from Japan was "illegal" and that to avoid similar cases in the future, the authorities were contemplating new rules that include a review of immigration controls.

The Minister also said that they were considering possible measures to prevent such an incident from repeating and mentioned tools such as GPS tracking for those out on bail.

Mori did not reveal details about how Ghosn was able to escape from Japan, given that the case was under investigation.

The Minister also took the opportunity to defend the Japanese judicial system against criticism that has arisen in the Ghosn case, such as the possibility of prosecutors questioning a detainee without a lawyer present.

Each country has a different system and it is not appropriate to see only a part of the legal system and criticize it for one detail, Mori said.

Ghosn, 65, had been under strict house arrest conditions on bail in Tokyo, awaiting an expected April trial.

The former chief of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance left Japan clandestinely on December 29, 2019 from Osaka and reached Beirut in a private jet with a stopover in Turkey.

In a statement from Beirut on December 31, he claimed to have left his country to escape "injustice and political persecution".

Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon, therefore Lebanese law will be applicable in Ghosn's case and hence the possibility of the businessman being handed over to Tokyo is unlikely, Lebanese Justice Minister Albert Serhan had earlier said in interviews to Japanese media.

Meanwhile, Turkey has opened a probe into whether Ghosn violated Turkish laws during his departure to Lebanon and has detained five people suspected in being involved in his escape.

Ghosn, born in Brazil to a family of Lebanese roots, is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday in Beirut, the first since his November 2018 detention.