Tokyo court rejects Ghosn’s bail request

January 15, 2019

Tokyo--Tokyo District Court on Tuesday dismissed a bail application for former Nissan Motor Co. <7201> Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who has been in detention for nearly two months on charges of financial misconduct.

The court decision came despite his defense's claims in the court on Jan. 8 that even if he is freed on bail, Ghosn could hardly hide himself, considering his fame as a businessman, or destroy evidence for his case, given that public prosecutors have finished questioning Nissan officials.

The bail application was filed by Ghosn's lawyers on Friday, following his indictment the same day on aggravated breach of trust charges under the Companies Act, for allegedly transferring his personal financial losses to Nissan in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The detention of Ghosn, 64, started from his Nov. 19 arrest on charges of underreporting his executive pay in the Japanese automaker's financial statements for fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2014 in violation of the financial instruments and exchange law. He was indicted on these charges on Dec. 10.

Also on Dec. 10, he was served a second arrest warrant on similar charges for fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2017. He was indicted on those charges on Friday.

In his first public appearance since the original arrest, at the Tokyo court on Jan. 8, the disgraced automotive executive claimed that he is innocent and wrongly accused.

According to legal experts, Ghosn is now unlikely to be released before a pretrial procedure for both prosecution and defense to clarify their respective claims, and it may take around half a year before he is freed on bail.

"It's hard (for a court) to approve his release, given his claimed residency in France," a veteran judge said, referring to difficulties checking for any attempts by Ghosn to destroy evidence outside Japan.

Judge-turned-lawyer Hiroshi Kadono said that while there was a mood in Japan for accepting Ghosn's release amid criticism from overseas of his prolonged detention as "hostage justice," the Tokyo court appeared to hesitate to deviate from domestic judicial practices. Jiji Press