TOKYO: The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Wednesday searched the office of lawyer Junichiro Hironaka over the escape to Lebanon from Japan late last year of former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn while on bail awaiting trial.

Hironaka quit the defense team for Ghosn earlier this month.

The prosecutors' office is currently investigating how Ghosn fled Japan to Lebanon in alleged violation of Japan's immigration control law.

According to investigative sources, Ghosn, indicted in Japan on financial misconduct charges, left his home in Tokyo and departed the country from Kansai International Airport on Dec. 29 without approval from Japanese authorities.

Through cooperation with Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, the prosecutors analyzed video footage from security cameras around the home of the former Nissan executive.

The investigation found that Ghosn departed Japan with two men who are believed to be U.S. nationals aboard a private jet, entering Lebanon through Istanbul, the sources said.

The prosecutors visited Hironaka's office on Jan. 8 with a warrant issued by a court to seize a personal computer used by Ghosn while on bail.

But the defense team exercised its right to refuse the seizure and did not allow officials of the prosecutors' office to enter his office.

JIJI Press