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The
plane carrying U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor
and his son Peter, who were extradited by U.S. authorities on
Monday, landed at Tokyo's Narita airport, and the two men were
escorted on to waiting police buses, according to a Reuters
witness.
The Taylors will not be indicted immediately, but will likely
face charges after an investigation is concluded.
The two were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of helping Ghosn
flee Japan on a private jet hidden in luggage, in contravention
of his bail conditions, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors
Office said in a statement.
Under Japanese law, suspects can be held for up to 20 days
before being indicted or released, and are not allowed to have
their lawyers present during questioning by prosecutors. Once
charged, defendants are often refused bail by courts.
"We'll conduct our investigation first so it is too early yet to
say when any trial would start," Tokyo Deputy Chief Prosecutor
Hiroshi Yamamoto said at a press conference Tuesday.
The two men will be detained at the Tokyo Detention House, the
city's main jail where Ghosn was held after his arrest, he
added.
The Taylors are alleged to have helped Ghosn flee Japan on Dec.
29, 2019, hidden in a box and on a private jet before reaching
his childhood home, Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty
with Japan.
Their lawyers waged a months-long battle to avoid them being
sent to Japan to face charges they helped Ghosn escape, arguing
they could not be prosecuted for helping someone "bail jump".
They also claimed that, if extradited, they faced the prospect
of relentless interrogations and torture.
The U.S. State Department in a November court filing rejected
the torture claim as unlikely, and the U.S. Supreme Court last
month cleared the way for their extradition. Japanese
authorities did not comment on the allegation.
The campaign by the Taylors, who have been in U.S. custody since
their arrest in May, to press their case against extradition was
waged in the courts, the media, State Department and White
House.
"This is a sad day for the family, and for all who believe that
veterans deserve better treatment from their own country," their
lawyer Paul Kelly said in a statement on Monday.
The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. State Department
declined to comment.
At the time of his escape, Ghosn was awaiting trial on charges
that he had engaged in financial wrongdoing, including by
understating his compensation in Nissan's financial statements
and enriching himself at his employer's expense through payments
to car dealerships. Ghosn denies wrongdoing.
Prosecutors said the elder Taylor, a 60-year-old private
security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, received $1.3 million
for their services.
(Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu, Tim Kelly and Kim Kyung Hoon in
Tokyo, Nate Raymond in Boston, and David Shepardson in
Washington; Editing by Grant McCool, Kenneth Maxwell, Shri
Navaratnam and Jan Harvey)
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