Carlos Ghosn arrested

  • Thread starter Thread starter jdbob
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 254
  • Views Views 48K
Domenick said:
Here's a piece on how the case is putting a spotlight on the Japanese justice system.

Ghosn detention extended over Christmas and New Year, putting Japan’s justice system under the microscope
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link, Domenick.

The report at that Japanese news site casts the accusations against Ghosn in what appears to me to be a considerably more serious light:

Authorities are pursuing three separate lines of inquiry against the 64-year-old Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian executive.

They suspect he conspired with his right-hand man, U.S. executive Greg Kelly, to hide around half of his income (some ¥5 billion or $44 million) over five fiscal years from 2010.

They also allege he under-reported his salary to the tune of ¥4 billion over the next three fiscal years — apparently to avoid criticism that his pay was too high.

The third allegation is that he shifted a personal investment loss made at the height of the financial crisis worth more than $16 million to the Japanese automaker.​

But let's remember that at present, these are only allegations, not proof. The fact that Renault has (at least so far) kept him on, rather than firing him, suggests to me that there are serious questions about what may be mostly or entirely trumped-up charges.
​
 
Bail set for Kelly.

Former Nissan Motor Co Representative Director Greg Kelly was granted bail by the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday, the court said, raising the prospect he could be freed before the end of Christmas day.

Kelly’s bail has been set at 70 million yen ($635,612), the court said in a statement.

Prosecutors could appeal the court decision.
Click to expand...
 
Prosecutors lost their appeal to deny Kelly bail.

The Tokyo District Court earlier rejected prosecutors' appeal against its decision to set a 70 million yen ($630,000) bail.
Click to expand...

Under conditions of his release, he cannot travel outside of Japan and his movement is limited to certain areas within the country.
Click to expand...

Kelly suffers from spinal stenosis with symptoms including numbness, tingling and shooting pains in the extremities, and he was to undergo surgery Dec. 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, before his arrest, she said.

"We were told by his doctor that if he did not have the surgery within two months, these symptoms could become permanent," she said.

Kelly himself has emphasized the direness of his medical condition saying in his statement "After the bail, I would like to see the doctor immediately and have appropriate treatment or operation originally scheduled in early December."
Click to expand...

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Ni...ly-released-on-bail-over-1-month-after-arrest
 
Interesting, considering Ghosn is still on the board of directors of Nissan.

Nissan Motor Co has instructed its employees not to contact ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn and his close aide Greg Kelly amid ongoing investigations by prosecutors into their alleged financial misconduct, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa told reporters the contact ban was introduced as the automaker's employees are "unsettled," but refrained from elaborating on the measure believed to have been announced through an internal document.

The company prohibited workers from communicating with Ghosn, Kelly and their lawyers and ordered them not to respond even if they are contacted. The employees were asked to immediately report to the company if they are contacted by the parties, the sources said.
Click to expand...

https://japantoday.com/category/cri...t-to-contact-ousted-chairman-ghosn-aide-kelly
 
Renault still pushing for shareholder meeting.

French automaker Renault has once again asked Nissan Motor to hold an extraordinary meeting of shareholders, Nikkei learned on Thursday.
Click to expand...

Nissan's CEO Hiroto Saikawa sent a letter to Renault's Deputy CEO Thierry Bollore declining the request. Renault reportedly responded with letters to demand an extraordinary shareholders meeting.
Click to expand...

Japanese law gives shareholders who have retained at least 3% voting rights for more than six months, the right to demand that a company convene a shareholders meeting. If the company's board does not begin the process of convening the meeting in a timely fashion, or if it does not open the meeting within eight weeks of receiving the request, the shareholder can petition the local court to force a meeting.

The shareholder is able to convene a meeting on his own if he or she can obtain approval from the court.
Click to expand...
 
The following is the full text of Greg Kelly's statement issued Tuesday before his release.

December 25, 2018

Today, as a result of bail, I can return to the outside of the detention facility. 5 weeks have passed since I was arrested for unexpected suspicion, during which I had hard times for my disease in this detention facility. After the bail, I would like to see the doctor immediately and have appropriate treatment or operation originally scheduled in early December.


Under such situation, U.S. Embassy and many other people encouraged me. I am grateful for that very much. Especially, letters from and pictures of my wife and children cannot be substituted, which encouraged me very much and reminded me of importance of ties of family. Thank you very much everybody!

I expect that the trial will start soon. I have not been involved in alleged false entry. I believe my innocence will be revealed in the trial. I would like to have a judgement of non-guilty and restore my impaired reputation, and then return to my family as soon as possible.

Gregory L. Kelly
Click to expand...
 
Probe initially run by handful of executives now involves ‘hundreds’ of staff worldwide.
Click to expand...

Does this make sense to anyone? What could "hundreds" of staff possibly contribute to investigating an accusation of a couple of executives engaging in failure to report income for tax purposes, or even -- according to one accusation -- actively hiding some of that income and engaging in what some might call "creative accounting"?

This story gets more bizarre by the day.
​
 
20 years of financial records to go through. Personally I would have thought you’d get an impartial outside auditor to do that.
 
gooki said:
Personally I would have thought you’d get an impartial outside auditor to do that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, an outside auditor, possibly working with (or for) one or more forensic accountants.

But that's because we would want to see objective, unbiased evidence. Looks like Nissan isn't at all interested in that!
​
 
Ghosns children believe his arrest is part of a coupe.

The children of Carlos Ghosn, the jailed auto executive who oversaw an alliance that sold more than 10 million cars a year, believe accusations of financial misconduct against him are part of a revolt within Nissan against exploring a possible merger with Renault.

Caroline Ghosn, the eldest of Ghosn’s four children, said that when she saw Hiroto Saikawa, chief executive of Nissan, condemn her father during a televised news conference after his arrest, she suspected that Nissan’s investigation was rooted in opposition to proposed changes to the Nissan-Renault alliance and “the merger my dad was setting up.”

“For Saikawa to so adamantly denounce someone who had been his mentor and then immediately without any benefit of the doubt condemns him?” Caroline Ghosn, 31, said in a phone interview. An entrepreneur, she had awakened hours before that briefing to the news that her father, who was Nissan’s chairman and Renault’s chief executive, had been arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s financial reporting laws.
Click to expand...

https://m.economictimes.com/news/in...lt-behind-his-arrest/articleshow/67300240.cms
 
Ghosn transferred 50 million from the CEO reserve to two other Middle East Nissan dealers.
Nissan dealers in Oman and Lebanon received $32 million and $16 million, respectively, through Dubai-based Nissan Middle East, the sources said. This occurred around the same time that Ghosn paid a total of $14.7 million to a business run by Saudi associate Khaled al-Juffali, allegedly as compensation for help covering personal losses in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Each of these payments came out of Nissan's "CEO reserve," an internal fund that Ghosn could tap at his discretion. Tokyo prosecutors, who have accused Ghosn of breach of trust over the al-Juffali payments, suspect that the ex-chairman may have had the fund set up to handle private issues. Investigators are looking into whether the ex-chairman diverted cash from the reserve for other personal uses outside the scope of those allegations.
Click to expand...

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Ni...id-2-more-acquaintances-48m-with-Nissan-money
 
Ghosn has requested a court appearance to force the prosecutors disclose the reasons for his detention.
The Tokyo District Court is to disclose the reasons for Carlos Ghosn's detention on Jan. 8 following a request from the former Nissan Motor chairman, the Nikkei learned on Friday.

The former executive is expected to appear at the hearing and state his position.

A disclosure of this kind is a legal step in which a court explains the reasons for detention to the accused and their representative.

The accused is entitled to request such a step as their right under Article 34 of the Constitution of Japan, which stipulates that no person shall be detained without adequate cause and "upon demand of any person such cause must be immediately shown in open court in his presence and the presence of his counsel."

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the accused as well as his lawyer, statutory agent and others including his spouse, lineal kin and sibling are allowed to demand the process.
Click to expand...

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Ghosn-set-for-Jan.-8-court-appearance
 
Ghosns detention continuing to impact Nissan's promotion activities.

Senior executive of Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Jose Munoz, has taken a leave of absence.

In a statement on Saturday, Nissan said that Munoz has taken a leave of absence "to allow him to assist the company by concentrating on special tasks arising from recent events."

As a result, his planned appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week would be cancelled
Click to expand...

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Ni...akes-leave-of-absence-in-wake-of-Ghosn-arrest
 
Informative article here with quotes from Ghosns son.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...sn-to-vigorously-defend-himself-says-11092042

Anthony told the JDD that his father would be released if he signed a confession.

He can "tell the prosecutor that he is contesting the charges or instead he could confess and be released. For seven weeks his decision has been quite clear," he said.

"He is ready to defend himself vigorously and is very focused on the goal of responding to the accusations against him. He is particularly calm," said Anthony, who has not spoken directly with his father.
Click to expand...

He has lost ten kilos since his detention began due to a prison diet of three bowls of rice a day, and spends his time reading books.
Click to expand...
 
Ghosn denies all allegations in court.

In a statement released by Mr Ghosn's representatives before the hearing, Mr Ghosn began his testimony saying he had acted “honourably, legally, and with the knowledge and approval of the appropriate executives inside the company” to help strengthen a Japanese carmaker he had once saved from the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s.

“I am innocent of the accusations made against me. I have always acted with integrity and have never been accused of any wrongdoing in my several-decade professional career. I have been wrongly accused and unfairly detained based on meritless and unsubstantiated accusations,” Mr Ghosn said.
Click to expand...

https://www.ft.com/content/2e0f7724-12e8-11e9-a581-4ff78404524e
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top