TOKYO— -25 April 2019 – Carlos Ghosn left a Tokyo jail for a second time late Thursday, returning to his modest one-bedroom apartment in the city—this time alone after agreeing not to see his wife without prior court approval. The restriction was one of the conditions for Mr. Ghosn’s latest release on bail, and represented a last-ditch concession by the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman to overcome fierce opposition by prosecutors to his release. Mr. Ghosn said it was “cruel and unnecessary” for the court to block him from seeing his wife, Carole. “We love each other very much, she answered all of the prosecutors’ questions in court, and she has done nothing wrong,” he said in an emailed statement.
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Mrs. Ghosn testified in a Tokyo court at the request of prosecutors after her husband’s latest arrest. Mr. Ghosn’s arrest and long detention have put a magnifying glass on Japan’s judicial system. While the rights enshrined in the Japanese constitution resemble those in its model, the U.S. Constitution, in practice the protections offered to criminal suspects differ greatly. Restricting contact between spouses is a rare act by a court, including in Japan. “I’ve never heard of this,” said Chuko Hayakawa, a lawyer and former ruling-party member of Parliament.
In the U.S., such restrictions normally are used in cases of alleged domestic abuse, said Bret W. Schmidt, a Dallas-based defense attorney and former prosecutor. “The marital relationship is sacred to the court. That’s the reason spousal privilege exists,” he said.
Spousal privilege prevents the state from forcing anyone to testify against his or her spouse. In the U.S., if a person sought to manipulate witnesses on behalf of a spouse accused of a crime, it would be seen as a separate crime, rather than a violation of the accused’s bail restrictions, Mr. Schmidt said.
Long after dark Thursday, Mr. Ghosn walked out of the Tokyo detention center wearing a suit without a tie, the latest twist in a case that began nearly half a year ago. He was first arrested on Nov. 19 and spent three and a half months in jail before winning release on nearly $9 million in bail. After a month in his Tokyo apartment, he was re-arrested on April 4 and spent an additional three weeks behind bars.
Altogether, Mr. Ghosn has been charged four different times with financial crimes. The latest charge, issued Monday, alleges that he diverted to personal use $5 million of Nissan money sent to a distributor. Mr. Ghosn denies all the charges.
Mr. Ghosn’s lawyers say the distributor was Oman-based Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC. Proprietor Suhail Bahwan and his company haven’t responded to requests for comment. He and his company haven’t been accused of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Ghosn shouldn’t receive bail and shouldn’t be able to contact his wife, alleging that Mrs. Ghosn had contacted people connected to the Oman matter.
Junichiro Hironaka, Mr. Ghosn’s lead attorney, acknowledged Mrs. Ghosn’s contact with people in Oman, but said it occurred while Mr. Ghosn was still in jail the first time and before prosecutors had publicly raised any suspicions about the Oman money flows. He said Mr. Ghosn never violated the terms of his bail.
Nonetheless, Mr. Ghosn agreed to the restriction on contact with his wife to overcome objections during fierce courtroom arguments this week, said a person familiar with the proceedings. Mr. Ghosn’s bail terms, on both the first occasion and currently, restrict him from contacting people connected to his criminal charges, either by himself or through a third party.
While authorities in many countries can hold a suspect temporarily before having to file charges, such detention periods tend to be longer in Japan. Prosecutors in Japan can hold suspects for 48 hours after an arrest. After that, they need court permission to detain suspects for an additional 10 days and that period can be extended by a further 10 days with court approval.
After his arrests, Mr. Ghosn has been interrogated by prosecutors nearly every day for hours at a stretch. Mr. Ghosn wasn’t permitted to have his lawyers present at these interrogations. During his most recent stay in jail, he was interrogated an average of four hours a day over a 17-day period.
Even after Mr. Ghosn said he would exercise his right to remain silent—a right shared between the U.S. and Japan—prosecutors continued to question him in an effort to get him to confess, according to his lawyers. Prosecutors have defended his treatment, saying they want to get the facts and Mr. Ghosn is being treated no differently than a typical Japanese suspect.
—Chieko Tsuneoka and Megumi Fujikawa contributed to this article.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/carlos-ghosn-is-granted-bail-by-tokyo-court-again-11556161288
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22 April 2019
TOKYO—Carlos Ghosn was indicted Monday on charges that he misappropriated funds sent by Nissan Motor Co. NSANY -2.83% to a distributor in the Middle East, clearing the way for him to seek release on bail.
Tokyo prosecutors arrested the former Nissan and Renault SA RNO 1.10% chairman April 4—his fourth arrest since Nov. 19. In the latest set of charges, prosecutors allege that between 2017 and 2018 Mr. Ghosn arranged for a company he controlled to receive a portion of money sent by Nissan to its overseas distributor. Of a total $10 million sent by Nissan during this period, prosecutors allege Mr. Ghosn received $5 million.
Mr. Ghosn’s legal team believes this is the final charge their client will face. Prosecutors haven’t named the distributor, but Mr. Ghosn’s legal team has identified it as Oman-based Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. Nissan has investigated whether the Omani company helped Mr. Ghosn obtain a yacht and whether it helped fund an investment company partly owned by Mr. Ghosn’s son, people familiar with the investigation have said. Mr. Ghosn’s U.S.-based spokesman said that he was innocent of the latest charges and that he expects to be vindicated.
Previously, Mr. Ghosn was charged with misstating deferred compensation on Nissan’s annual financial statements submitted to regulators and funneling Nissan money to the business of a Saudi friend who helped him with a personal financial problem.
Mr. Ghosn has said he had only hypothetical discussions about future compensation. He has said Nissan paid the Saudi company for “critical services that substantially benefited Nissan.”
A Tokyo court had authorized Mr. Ghosn’s detention without possibility of bail through Monday. By indicting him, prosecutors can keep him behind bars for the moment, but Mr. Ghosn can seek release on bail. In the absence of an indictment, Mr. Ghosn would have automatically been released.
His lawyers have said Mr. Ghosn isn’t a flight risk, and they have said the terms of his previous release on bail, including a ban on computer use outside his lawyer’s office, ensured that he couldn’t destroy evidence. Mr. Ghosn had been out on bail of nearly $9 million for about a month before his latest arrest.
Mr. Ghosn’s lawyers applied for bail again on Monday, a few hours after he was indicted on the latest charges. The court will hear Mr. Ghosn’s request for bail on Tuesday.
After the most recent arrest, Mr. Ghosn was interrogated for 72 hours over a 17-day period, according to a blog post by one of his lawyers, Takashi Takano. As is typical in Japan, the interrogation occurred without the presence of Mr. Ghosn’s lawyers. Mr. Takano said the legal team filed a complaint with prosecutors because Mr. Ghosn was forced to sit through interrogation sessions, often two or three times a day, despite making clear that he intended to remain silent.
Critics of Japan’s judicial system—including Mr. Ghosn’s legal team—have said prosecutors use these tactics to force a confession out of suspects. Japanese authorities have said Mr. Ghosn is receiving normal treatment and the goal of the interrogation is to find out the facts, not to compel a confession.
Should Mr. Ghosn fail to receive bail, he will face a potentially long period of solitary confinement. Japan has a 10-day holiday starting Saturday surrounding the May 1 enthronement of a new emperor. Detainees are permitted 30 minutes outdoors on weekdays but generally not when the jail is on weekend or holiday staffing.
During a previous period of confinement during Japan’s New Year holidays, Mr. Ghosn was unable to leave his cell for six days, his wife, Carole, said in an interview.
Mr. Ghosn’s lawyers have said a long period of confinement risks worsening a kidney condition that requires daily exercise to manage.
—Chieko Tsuneoka contributed to this article.
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Carlos Ghosn has launched a court case in the Netherlands against Japanese carmakers Nissan Motor (7201.T) and Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T), who ousted him as chairman of their alliance last year on charges of embezzlement, Dutch newspaper NRC reported on Saturday. Ghosn is seeking 15 million euros ($16.8 million) in damages from the carmakers, as grave mistakes were made when he was sacked, NRC reported, citing his lawyer.
“In the Netherlands, if you want to fire an executive you have to first tell him what he’s being accused of, and you have to provide him with the evidence for the accusations. Neither of those things has happened,” lawyer Laurens de Graaf told NRC. Ghosn fell from grace late last year when he was arrested in Japan and sacked by Nissan on charges of financial misconduct, which he denies. He has also been fired as the CEO and chairman of French carmaker Renault (RENA.PA).
Ghosn was freed in April from jail in Japan on a $4.5 million bail.
Among other charges of fraud and misconduct, Nissan and Mitsubishi have said Ghosn improperly received $9 million in compensation from their joint venture. Suspect expenses Ghosn made when he chaired Renault and Nissan amounted to about 11 million euros, Renault’s board said in June.
Ghosn holds French, Lebanese and Brazilian citizenship, but opted for the fiscally more friendly Netherlands as his tax domicile in 2012. The holding company for the Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is also incorporated in the Netherlands. The district court in Amsterdam is reviewing the case but has not set a trial date yet, NRC said.
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“We are talking about people who played a very dirty game.” Former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn said this “plot” was driven by “a few executives,” in the seven-minute video.
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