Turkish pilots accused of aiding Carlos Ghosn in his dramatic escape from Japan said they did not know the former Nissan executive was on the plane, as the case against them and several other employees of a Turkish jet company resumed Thursday.
Ghosn, once a leading light of the global car industry, was arrested in Japan in late 2018 and charged with underreporting his salary and using company funds for personal purposes, charges he denies.
The ousted chairperson of the alliance of Renault, Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. had been awaiting his trial under house arrest in Japan when he escaped in December last year via Istanbul to Beirut, his childhood home.
An executive from Turkish private jet operator MNG Jet and four pilots were detained by Turkish authorities in early January soon after Ghosn’s escape and charged with migrant smuggling, a charge carrying a maximum sentence of eight years in jail. They were released in July when the first hearing was held.
The pilots and flight attendants have denied involvement in the plans to smuggle Ghosn or of knowing that Ghosn was aboard the flights.
Noyan Pasin, one of the pilots on the flight from Osaka to Istanbul, said before the hearing Thursday that he learned that Ghosn was on the plane from news reports after the flight.
He said he executed the flight as requested by the company, and had no chance to intervene at any point in the process of Ghosn’s escape.
"Even if we wanted to, there is no possibility for us to intervene because the local authority has full control. We had nothing to do with the escape, we only carried out the flight," he told Reuters.
The airline official, Okan Kösemen, told The Associated Press (AP) he was made aware that Ghosn was on board the flight from Osaka to Istanbul after the plane landed.
He admitted helping smuggle Ghosn onto the second Beirut-bound plane but claimed he was threatened and feared for his family's safety.
At Thursday’s hearing, the court rejected a request by the pilots to lift a travel ban against them. They had told the court the measure prevented them from carrying out their job.
It set the next hearing for Jan. 20.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"These people are pilots and haven’t been able to do their jobs for over a year. They have not been making any money for a year," Mehmet Rüşen Gültekin, a lawyer representing pilot Serhat Kahvecioğlu, told AP.
Gültekin said his client was not aware of the scheme to smuggle Ghosn and expressed hope that he would be acquitted at the next hearing.
The Ghosn saga has shaken the global auto industry, at one point jeopardizing the Renault-Nissan alliance which he masterminded, and increased scrutiny of Japan’s judicial system.
Renault and Nissan have struggled to recover profitability following his tenure, during which both automakers say Ghosn focused too much on expanding sales and market share.