Photo/Illutration Prosecutors leave the office of Junichiro Hironaka, the former defense lawyer of Carlos Ghosn, after their search in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Jan. 29. (Azusa Kato)

Tokyo prosecutors investigating Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan seized documents from the office of his former lawyer, but they again failed to confiscate the computer that had been used by the current fugitive.

Junichiro Hironaka, who had led the defense team for Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan Motor Co., said more than 10 investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office visited his office in the capital on the morning of Jan. 29.

They presented office staff members a search warrant that listed Ghosn and several other foreign nationals as suspects in his late December flight from Japan in violation of the immigration control law.

The prosecutors seized records of people whom Ghosn met while he was out on bail, but Hironaka’s office again refused to hand over the computer that Ghosn had used before he fled to Lebanon and other items.

The Criminal Procedure Law gives lawyers the right to reject seizure of items that may contain confidential information about their client.

After Hironaka’s office refused to comply with prosecutors’ request, the investigators broke the lock on the door of a room that had been used by Ghosn and forced open the locks of a cabinet and desk drawers that had contained documents, Hironaka said.

The office did provide prosecutors records of whom Ghosn met at the office as well as outside of his residence in Tokyo. But copies of these records had already been submitted to the Tokyo District Court in compliance with Ghosn’s bail conditions.

The bail conditions also stipulated that the only computer that Ghosn could use was the one in the lawyer’s office. He spent most of his time at the office following his release.

Ghosn was expected to stand trial in April over allegations he engaged in financial misconduct when he was in charge of Nissan.

But he managed to take a bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, where he was smuggled aboard a private jet that took him to Lebanon via Turkey, according to investigative sources.

Ghosn, 65, has repeatedly said he fled Japan because he believed he would not receive a fair trial.

Hironaka said prosecutors last week had asked him and Takashi Takano, another defense lawyer, to submit to voluntary questioning regarding the records of Ghosn’s meetings, but they refused the request.

The two resigned as defense lawyers for Ghosn on Jan. 16.

Investigators also visited Hironaka’s office on Jan. 8 to seize the computer, but the office refused to hand it over.