KYODO NEWS - Jan 10, 2020 - 14:14 | All, Japan

Japan has asked Interpol to issue a wanted notice for the wife of fugitive former Nissan Motor Co. boss Carlos Ghosn, sources close to the matter said Friday.

Tokyo prosecutors this week obtained an arrest warrant for Ghosn's wife Carole, 53, for alleged perjury when she appeared in court last year in connection with her husband's suspected misuse of the company's funds.

Carole is now in Lebanon with her husband, who violated his bail conditions by fleeing Japan late last month.

Given that Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon, the likelihood of Carole being arrested is slim. But the move by Japanese investigative authorities is apparently aimed at restricting her activities overseas.

Carole is suspected to have denied knowing one of Ghosn's acquaintances whom she had previously contacted during a witness examination last April at the Tokyo District Court.

Ghosn is accused of causing damage to Nissan by having the automaker's subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates pay a total of $10 million to Omani distributor Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC between July 2017 and July 2018, and having around $5 million of it transferred to a Lebanese investment firm that he effectively owned.

The prosecutors' special investigation squad said Carole met with the acquaintance, who was an executive of the Omani distributor and was involved in sending money to the Lebanese firm, Good Faith Investments, and they also exchanged many messages after her husband was arrested on Nov. 19, 2018.

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