Carlos Ghosn’s dramatic fall from business superstar to suspect
- The arrest of the ousted Nissan chairman has caused pandemonium across the world of business
When Carlos Ghosn’s private Gulfstream jet touched down at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at around 4:35pm on Monday, November 19, the millionaire auto tycoon had an unexpected welcoming committee: an elite unit of prosecutors.
The weak winter sun had set moments before and the brightly lit interior of the plane – call-sign ‘N155AN’ – twinkled through the oval windows as the boarding steps unfurled.
The first sign Ghosn would have had that all was not as normal was when a white van pulled up onto the tarmac and a line of men in dark suits rushed up the steps.
These were top investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, preparing to interrogate the 64-year-old businessman over allegations he under-reported his income by about half over five years – concealing some $44 million.
As the interviews began, shutters descended over the plane’s windows to offer privacy to the very public figure inside.
This was all captured on a video that appeared on the website of the Asahi newspaper, which broke the story in a special digital edition – “Ghosn to be arrested” – sparking pandemonium in newsrooms and trading rooms around the world. Meanwhile, investigators were springing into action. At around 5:00pm, more than 10 men suddenly appeared at the glass-walled reception desk at Nissan’s plush Yokohama headquarters.
