Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn had escaped to Lebanon to clear his name.
MOHAMED AZAKIR/Reuters
Lebanese prosecutors issued a travel ban for fugitive ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and asked him to hand in his French passport on Thursday, following an Interpol-issued notice against him, a judicial official said.
The travel ban comes after Mr. Ghosn was interrogated by prosecutors for nearly two hours over the notice about the charges he faces in Japan over financial misconduct.
The prosecutors also formally asked Japanese authorities for their file on the charges against Mr. Ghosn in order to review the case, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
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Mr. Ghosn said he wanted to stay in Lebanon and has no issues to hand in his passport. He was speaking on LBC TV after his questioning by prosecutors.
“I came to Lebanon and I will co-operate with the Lebanese state and judiciary to make sure that everything is done in a way that can’t be criticized, not for Lebanon and not for me,” he said.
Mr. Ghosn then added that he is “a lot more” confident in Lebanon’s judicial system than Japan’s.
He said Lebanese prosecutors questioned him on all the charges, adding that he was ready to hand in all the documents for his case.
Lebanon last week received the Interpol-issued wanted notice, which is a non-binding request to law-enforcement agencies worldwide that they locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive.
At the hearing, Mr. Ghosn was asked to provide an address he resides at in Lebanon and was banned from travelling out of the country, the official said. He was also asked to hand in his French passport. It was not immediately clear what legal procedures would follow.
Lebanon and Japan do not have an extradition treaty, and the Interpol notice does not require that Lebanese authorities arrest him. The authorities say Mr. Ghosn entered Lebanon on a valid passport, casting doubt on the possibility they would hand him over to Japan.
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Interpol cannot compel Lebanon to arrest Mr. Ghosn and it will be up to the local law-enforcement authorities to decide what to do.
On his first public appearance since he fled Japan, Mr. Ghosn on Wednesday railed against the Japanese justice system, accusing it of violating his basic rights and disputing all allegations against him as “untrue and baseless.”
He told a news conference in Beirut that he doesn’t trust he would have a fair trial in Japan, but said he was ready to face justice anywhere else.
Mr. Ghosn, a French, Lebanese and Brazilian national, showed up in Lebanon on Dec. 30, after an audacious and improbable escape from surveillance in Japan. Lebanese officials said he entered legally, with a French passport and a Lebanese identification card.
While a travel ban restricts Mr. Ghosn’s movement, it also offers him a degree of protection by Lebanese authorities, who would presumably ensure he complies with the ban. France also doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Japan.
According to the official, Mr. Ghosn was also interrogated on a separate report against him over a 2008 visit to Israel. Lebanon and Israel are technically at war. No decision was taken regarding this case, which, according to Lebanese law, can be punishable between one and 10 years in jail.
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Two Lebanese lawyers submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office saying the trip violated Lebanese law. The violation may not be prosecutable, given that it has happened 12 years earlier. A famous Lebanese director, who also carries a French passport and was questioned over the same violation in 2017, was not prosecuted because the visit was three yeas prior.
Mr. Ghosn’s lawyer, Carlos Abou Jaoude confirmed that his client was questioned in the two separate cases – the Interpol notice and the Israel trip. He told reporters Mr. Ghosn was confident in the Lebanese judicial system.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Mr. Ghosn apologized to the Lebanese, saying he never wished to offend anyone when he travelled to Israel as a French national after Nissan asked him to announce the launch of electric cars there.
Tokyo prosecutors, who arrested him in late 2018, said Mr. Ghosn had “only himself to blame” for four-month-long detention and for the strict bail conditions that followed, such as being banned from seeing his wife.
“Defendant Ghosn was deemed a high-profile risk, which is obvious from the fact that he actually fled,” they said.
Mr. Ghosn thanked the Lebanese authorities for their hospitality and defended its judicial system, which has long faced accusations of corruption and favouritism. He said he would be ready to stand trial “anywhere where I think I can have a fair trial.” He declined to say where that might be.
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With big gestures and a five-part slide presentation, Mr. Ghosn brought his case to the global media in a performance that at times resembled a corporate presentation. Combative, spirited and at times rambling, he described conditions of detention in Japan that made him feel “dead … like an animal” in a country where he asserted he had “zero chance” of a fair trial.
He said he was held in solitary confinement for 130 days, was interrogated day and night for hours, appeared in handcuffs and a leash around his waist and was denied rights to see his wife for months.
In his 150-minutes conference on Wednesday, Mr. Ghosn attacked Japanese prosecutors, saying they were “aided and [abetted] by petty, vindictive and lawless individuals” in the government, Nissan and its law firm. He said it was them, not him, “who are destroying Japan’s reputation on the global stage.”
In Thursday’s interview with LBC TV, Mr. Ghosn said his case highlighted the thousands of unfair trials in Japan. “It has become now my duty to defend all those people to change this regime that the Japanese are hiding and they claim is a democracy,” he said.
On Tuesday, Tokyo prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Mr. Ghosn’s Lebanese wife, Carole, on suspicion of perjury, a charge unrelated to his escape. However, Japanese justice officials acknowledge that it’s unclear whether the Ghosns can be brought back to Japan to face charges.
Nissan has said it was still pursuing legal action against Mr. Ghosn despite his escape.
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Fugitive ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn made on Wednesday his first public comments since fleeing Japan for Lebanon, accusing Japanese prosecutors of brutal treatment and naming Nissan execs he said conspired against him.Reuters
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
