The curious case of Carlos Ghosn comes to Netflix

He went from jet-setter to jailbird in one of the biggest motoring scandals of modern times. The bizarre story of controversial automotive executive Carlos Ghosn, who fled Japan hiding inside a box while under house arrest, is told in a new Netflix documentary.

Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn covers the rise and fall of the former CEO of Nissan and Renault, who dramatically escaped to his childhood home of Lebanon while in Japan awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct.

Arrested in Tokyo in 2018, he was charged with underreporting earnings, breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. The saga left Ghosn one of the world’s most famous fugitives.

His arrest and removal as chair of the automakers sent shock waves through the industry. Ghosn said he fled because he could not expect a fair trial in Japan, which reportedly has a 99% conviction rate and allows lengthy detention and interrogation before trials.

Ghosn spent 130 days in jail and spoke of being brutally treated by Japanese prosecutors, who he accused of conspiring with Nissan to oust him as head of the carmaker after a downturn in Nissan’s fortunes and in revenge for French government interference in the carmaker’s alliance with Renault. Ghosn said he spent his incarceration in solitary confinement, was allowed only two baths a week and was constantly interrogated in efforts to extract a confession.

It was a far cry from the lavish lifestyle previously enjoyed by the motoring mogul who saved Renault and Nissan from near bankruptcy and became a superstar businessman in France and Japan. He became a celebrity and even featured as a superhero in a Japanese manga comic.

He was released on 1-billion yen (R120m) bail in April 2019 and spent eight months under house arrest until his dramatic escape from Japan in December 2019. It was the stuff of Hollywood plots, with Ghosn bundled onto a private jet inside a music equipment case to evade capture by authorities. The daring escape was carried out by American former green beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter, who were sentenced to two-year and 20-month sentences respectively for their roles in the affair.

Since then Ghosn has been holed up in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan, while Interpol has issued a “red notice” seeking his arrest.

Directed by Lucy Blakstad, the documentary provides a back story to the bizarre affair through interviews with people including Ghosn’s sister, his housekeeper, journalists, Renault-Nissan executives and co-workers. It chronicles the internal tensions he sparked within Nissan-Renault, which one interviewee describes as being “like Game of Thrones, Nissan edition”.

Ghosn declined to be part of the documentary, but is extensively quoted from his post-escape press conference in Lebanon, where he insisted he was brought down by a company plot and intended to clear his name.