The story of Carlos Ghosn is one of hubris followed by nemesis – and, as rumours swirl that he made his escape from Japan hidden inside an instrument case, a tinge of black comedy.
In his pomp, the 65-year-old led a motor-manufacturing empire that included the Japanese giants Nissan and Mitsubishi, along with Renault of France.
He enjoyed all the trappings of a globe-trotting executive. Multi-million-pound pay packet? Tick. Travel by private jet? Tick. Blonde, couture-clad second wife? Tick.
He also availed himself of a string of luxury homes, which would figure heavily in his eventual downfall. But this seemingly charmed life came to an abrupt end in November 2018 after his Gulfstream jet was swarmed by Japanese prosecutors when it landed at Tokyo airport.
Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn (pictured last year) said he had fled to Lebanon to escape injustice in Japan, where he was on bail awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges
Instead of savouring the meal he’d planned with one of his daughters, Maya, and her boyfriend at a Michelin-starred sushi restaurant, he found himself bundled off to a tiny cell.
Ghosn achieved the remarkable feat of becoming a hero in Japan, where foreign business leaders are a rare breed. He was drafted in to rescue Nissan in 1999, which at the time was groaning under debts amounting to billions of yen.
After he helped to orchestrate a bailout by Renault, the two car-makers embarked on a partnership, later joined by Mitsubishi. Ghosn chaired all three.
Aspiring salarymen imitated his suits and shades and the Emperor Akihito gave him a blue ribbon medal, the first time it had been awarded to a foreign business leader.
In the UK, where Nissan’s Sunderland plant employs 7,000, he was not a well-known public figure. Nonetheless, he made inroads into the political elite and was a frequent guest at No10 under a succession of prime ministers.
Ghosn is said to have flown from Tokyo to Beirut via Istanbul in Turkey after being ‘smuggled’ out of his home in a musical instrument case
He was particularly well acquainted with Tony Blair, whose former County Durham Parliamentary seat of Sedgefield was close to Nissan’s UK operations. The former PM’s wife Cherie was a director of Renault until April this year, when she left the board at the same time as Ghosn.
Perhaps inevitably, success on such a grand scale led to resentment. The flashpoint came over Ghosn’s pay – just under £13million in 2017 – and his lavish lifestyle, both of which jarred with the conservative corporate culture in Japan.
A profile in a business magazine told how he would fly to top-end hotels by helicopter.
Ghosn and second wife, Carole, celebrate their 2016 wedding with her children Tara, Daniel and Anthony
At the centre of the allegations against him are luxury properties at the disposal of Ghosn and his family in locations including Rio de Janeiro, Paris and Beirut.
His accusers say these were funded by Nissan through a Netherlands subsidiary and shell companies in offshore locations. The properties included two multi-million-pound apartments in Rio de Janeiro, one in the exclusive Leblon district and the other with views over Copacabana beach.
Ghosn had the use of a well-appointed apartment overlooking the River Seine in Paris, a £2.7million penthouse in Japan with views across Tokyo and an apartment in Amsterdam.
There was also his pink mansion in the historic district in Beirut, bought with company funds for £6.5million in 2012. Two ancient sarcophagi were on display and the property boasted a wine cellar.
The walls were bedecked with portraits of the tycoon, who with his second wife Carole, had supervised the purchase and subsequent £4.5m renovation, also said to have been funded by Nissan.
Glamour: Ghosn with wife Carole at Cannes in 2017
Carole was questioned in Tokyo last year but never charged. Among the accusations is that Ghosn channelled cash from a company fund into a firm run by her that was used to buy a luxury yacht. The mansion was a far cry from his upbringing in a modest middle-class neighbourhood of the Lebanese city, to where he moved from Brazil at six.
Ghosn was sent to study in Paris, where he later embarked on his career in the auto industry, first at tyre manufacturer Michelin, then later at Renault and Nissan. A first marriage, to Rita, the mother of his four children, Caroline, Nadine, Maya and Anthony, lasted for more than two decades.
He threw a grand Marie Antoinette-themed party in Versailles in 2016 to celebrate his marriage to Carole and her birthday. As well as mountains of pastries piled so high they were above the guests’ heads, there were golden trays laden with grapes. That event is itself now under the microscope.
Renault contacted the French authorities after an internal probe found Ghosn’s office had signed a deal for the car company to contribute to the renovation of the Chateau of Versailles. As part of that arrangement, he was allowed to hold his wedding reception free of the normal £40,000 fee.
Last night Mr Ghosn was thought to be with wife Carole, 53, inside his £11million dusky pink mansion (pictured) in one of Beirut’s most expensive neighbourhoods
Speculation emerged in the Lebanese media that the diminutive Mr Ghosn, thought to be around 5ft 7in, was wheeled out of the property in a box for ‘a large musical instrument’, such as a double bass or drum
Supporters of Ghosn say he is being scapegoated because Nissan feared he was pushing a full merger with Renault. His escape means corporate Japan will be spared potentially embarrassing disclosures by him at a trial.
Regardless of guilt or innocence, his ostentatious behaviour was never going to go down well with the reserved Japanese. Now the man who once bestrode the car industry like a colossus is a fugitive with a reputation in tatters and plenty of questions still to answer.