The challenge:
In January 2020 ex-CEO of Nissan-Renault Carlos Ghosn fled from Japan while on bail for charges of fraud and financial misconduct. Dominating the headlines of many global media titles at the time, journalists were eager to ascertain how, and with whose help, Ghosn managed to escape. One correspondent from a well-known financial news publisher, had found a document identifying the name of a company (‘Al Nitaq al Akhdhar’) which had chartered one of the private jets used to carry Ghosn from Turkey to Lebanon, but was unable to identify the type of entity nor who was behind it.
The solution:
Diligencia’s team of analysts was able to quickly identify two entities with the name ‘Al Nitaq Al Akhdhar’, one in an economic freezone within the UAE and the other in Iraq – both jurisdictions where it can be very challenging to access reliable company information. By establishing that the UAE entity was a branch of the Iraqi company, we then retrieved key registration and ownership data from the corporate registry in Baghdad.
The result:
Our research plugged a vital gap in the correspondent’s story – namely the identity of one of the individuals who may have helped to plan Ghosn’s escape. This transpired to be an ex-military security contractor who had denied any involvement only two days before.
