Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn was able to jump bail in Japan last month due to a security gap that enabled the tycoon to be smuggled out to Lebanon in oversized luggage from an airport terminal for private jets, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The plan to extract Ghosn, who was facing trial for alleged financial misconduct, is believed to have begun months beforehand, and involved about a dozen people, including a former Green Beret, and over 20 trips to Japan, the paper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, investigative sources said the 65-year-old traveled to Osaka from Shinagawa Station in Tokyo on a shinkansen bullet train on Dec. 29, before flying out of Kansai International Airport in a dramatic escape from what he has said is a "rigged Japanese justice system."

Security camera footage showed the fugitive leaving his home in the capital's Minato Ward alone around 2:30 p.m. that day, and arrived at Shinagawa Station with other men around 4:30 p.m. They took a taxi from Shin-Osaka Station to the airport around 7:30 p.m.

(Media crews gather on Jan. 5, 2020, in front of the Beirut residence of Carlos Ghosn.)

Ghosn, who was arrested more than a year ago by Japanese prosecutors, was released on bail in April on conditions that included no travel abroad. He arrived in Lebanon via Turkey on Dec. 30.

According to the WSJ, two U.S. security personnel were on board the private jet in Osaka Prefecture -- ex-Green Beret Michael Taylor and George Zayek, the latter who had previously worked with Taylor's security company.

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Ghosn was smuggled out in a large box reserved for concert equipment, which is too large to fit through airport scanners. While oversized luggage is usually opened by airport security personnel, private-jet travelers are seen as low risk and are therefore not always subjected to inspections, the paper said.

It also said the operatives visited at least 10 airports in Japan before settling on Kansai airport.

Ghosn himself only decided to undergo his escape last month due to fears that the trial could persist for years, the paper said, adding the escape is believed to have cost millions of dollars.

Earlier Monday, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori remained tight-lipped about how and from where Ghosn, accused of underreporting his pay for years and misappropriating Nissan funds, escaped Japan, citing ongoing investigations, though she repeatedly stressed he did so illegally.

(Masako Mori)

"Leaving without going through proper embarkation procedures and using unauthorized means comprise a crime of illegal departure," she told a press conference in Tokyo, the first since Ghosn's escape.

Mori disputed Ghosn's view, saying Japan's justice system "ensures basic human rights and is operated appropriately," adding, "This is an issue separate from his illegal departure from Japan."

She also said Japan will review bail conditions, including the use of global positioning systems.

In Beirut, a Lebanese official said authorities have not accepted a formal cooperation request from the International Criminal Police Organization in relation to the fugitive.

The disclosure to Kyodo News conflicts with reports in Lebanon that local prosecutors plan to question Ghosn as early as Tuesday based on a wanted notice they received from Interpol.

The official said there was a procedural flaw with the notice and given that no formal request for an investigation has arrived, the prosecutors will not be able to interrogate Ghosn.

The Lebanese official did not explain what kind of flaw Lebanon found in the Interpol notice. Such requests typically instruct authorities to detain a wanted person.

Lebanon, which has no extradition agreement with Japan, has said Ghosn entered the country legally in possession of a French passport and a Lebanese identification card.

But Turkish authorities said Ghosn, who holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese nationality, entered and departed Turkey illegally via a private aircraft with the help of suspected accomplices who have been detained.

Lebanese prosecutors would not stop Japanese authorities from joining their investigation of Ghosn, the official said, adding that Japan has not requested it nor that he be handed over by Beirut.