Lebanon Questions Auto Tycoon Ghosn after Interpol Notice

Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, May 25, 2021. (AP)
Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, May 25, 2021. (AP)
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Lebanon Questions Auto Tycoon Ghosn after Interpol Notice

Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, May 25, 2021. (AP)
Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, May 25, 2021. (AP)

A judge on Monday questioned disgraced auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn in Beirut, days after Lebanon received a wanted notice for him from Interpol, judicial officials said.

Lebanon received a new Red Notice from Interpol 10 days ago, after the French prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre said last month that it issued an international arrest warrant for the former head of Nissan and Renault and four other people based on an investigation opened in 2019 into money laundering and abuse of company assets.

Ghosn was questioned over money laundering and benefiting from deals for Nissan and Renault and was allowed to leave after the questioning, said the judicial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The Lebanese judge, Imad Kabalan, a public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, asked French authorities to hand over the details of the case filed against Ghosn and "if it is proven that he had committed crimes of money laundering and abuse of company assets," he will be put on trial in Lebanon since he holds Lebanese citizenship, the judge added.

A Red Notice is not an arrest warrant and does not require Lebanon to arrest Ghosn.

It was the second Red Notice that Lebanon received in the case; the first was issued in January 2020, a few days after Ghosn fled Japan for Lebanon in a gripping escape.

Prosecutors are investigating millions of dollars in alleged suspect payments made between the Renault-Nissan alliance and Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, a vehicle distributor company in Oman.

Ghosn noted last month after the French arrest warrant was issued that he’s barred from leaving Lebanon anyway.

Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. Ghosn has citizenship in Lebanon, France and Brazil.



UN Chief Outlines Four Options for Embattled Palestinian Relief Agency UNRWA

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Outlines Four Options for Embattled Palestinian Relief Agency UNRWA

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)

A review of the embattled United Nations Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, ordered by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has identified four possible ways forward for the organization that has lost US funding and been banned by Israel.

The proposals, seen by Reuters, are: inaction that could see the potential collapse of UNRWA; a reduction of services; the creation of an executive board to advise UNRWA; or maintaining UNRWA’s rights-based core while transferring services to host governments and the Palestinian Authority. While Guterres ordered the strategic assessment of UNRWA in April as part of his wider UN reform efforts, only the 193-member UN General Assembly can change UNRWA’s mandate.

UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

“I believe it is imperative that Member States take action to protect the rights of Palestine refugees, the mandate of UNRWA and regional peace and security,” Guterres wrote in a letter dated on Monday and seen by Reuters submitting the UNRWA assessment to the General Assembly. The review comes after Israel adopted a law in October, which was enacted on January 30, that bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities.

UNRWA is also dealing with a dire financial crisis, facing a $200-million deficit. The US was UNRWA's biggest donor, but former President Joe Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian Hamas group that triggered the war in Gaza. The funding halt was then extended by the US Congress and President Donald Trump.

FOUR OPTIONS

The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was also found to have had an UNRWA job. The UN has vowed to investigate all accusations and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided. Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, while UNRWA has said it has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization." Guterres and the UN Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza.

The first possible option outlined by the UNRWA strategic assessment was inaction and the potential collapse of the agency, noting that “this scenario would exacerbate humanitarian need, heighten social unrest, and deepen regional fragility” and “represent a significant abandonment of Palestine refugees by the international community.”

The second option was to reduce services by “aligning UNRWA’s operations with a reduced and more predictable level of funding through service cuts and transfer of some functions to other actors.”

The third option was to create an executive board to advise and support UNRWA’s commissioner-general, enhance accountability and take responsibility for securing multi-year funding and aligning UNRWA’s funding and services. The final potential option would see UNRWA maintain its functions as custodian of Palestine refugee rights, registration, and advocacy for refugee access to services, “while progressively shifting service provision to host governments and the Palestinian Authority, with strong international commitment to funding.”