Observers were shocked when he came out of the Tokyo Detention House alongside a phalanx of guards as well as other men wearing similar caps, surgical masks and construction worker outfits.
Takano said the legal team’s first task after securing Ghosn’s bail was to bring him to his residence without delay so that he could be reunited with his family and regain some sense of normalcy, albeit under strict conditions.
“If Mr. Ghosn had headed to his residence without disguise, he would have been chased by innumerable camera crew via motorcycles, cars and helicopters,” Takano explained. “The whole world would know where his small residence is located. He may lose his health instead of recovering. It’s not just him. His family members and neighbors’ lives may be disrupted.”
Takano apologized to his friends who undertook the initiative for causing trouble and regretted that his “premature plan has tarnished (Ghosn’s) reputation that he has built through his life.”
Keiko Ishikawa, a crisis communications consultant, echoed the lawyer, saying that the legal team’s effort backfired.
“I think the tragedy was that the lawyer’s desire to protect him came across as if he might be hiding something,” she said.
Ghosn wouldn’t have accepted the disguise under ordinary circumstance, but his judgement may have been clouded and he may have thought that it would be in his best interest to obey the lawyer’s instruction since he was not familiar with Japanese customs, Ishikawa added.
Some critics on social media have said that, if he’s really innocent, he should not have had to disguise himself and should have emerged from the center proudly.
Ghosn is accused of falsifying his remuneration for years. He was later slapped with more charges including aggravated breach of trust for the alleged transfer of private investment losses to Nissan during the global financial crisis of 2008. He denies wrongdoing and argues the charges stem from a conspiracy within Nissan to block his plan to merge with the carmaker Renault, its largest shareholder.
The detention has been met with international criticism. Critics have dubbed the Japanese legal system as one of “hostage justice,” in which suspects are detained for long periods in an effort to coerce a confession and interrogations are often conducted without an attorney present.
Since Ghosn’s release on bail, the Japanese media has been fixated on his failed disguise. He slipped into a silver van with the guards and drove away, with watchers assuming it was one of the staff going home. A few lucky — or possibly tipped off — media outlets caught his exit and followed the vehicle.
Ghosn is now with his family at the residence where he’ll stay, effectively under house arrest with limited access to information and people, Takano wrote in his post.
The strict bail conditions that Ghosn agreed to — such as camera monitoring and restricted mobile phone and internet access — may have been the deciding factor in his release, legal experts said. The terms are similar to another case Takano worked on, said Tokyo-based defense lawyer Seihou Chou, who used to work for Takano’s office and outlined his thoughts in a blog post.
Fuji TV reenacted Ghosn’s release by bringing in the same type of minivan to the studio and dressing a man in an outfit resembling Ghosn’s. NHK tracked down a store that sells a similar type of construction work outfit and showed Ghosn taking a walk at a park in Tokyo on Friday, but he did not speak to the media.
Ghosn’s legal team has said it would be willing to hold a news conference, but one hasn’t been scheduled yet. Ishikawa speculated that Ghosn may not be in the best condition to withstand stress at this point.
On his blog post, Takano called on the media to respect his privacy.
“Every public figure needs a place for rest where the person can relieve their exhaustion and spend time with their relatives at ease,” Takano said. “Every private figure has a right to work safely to make a living. Please understand these matters of course.”
Ghosn sparked confusion and some derision by walking out of a Tokyo jail Wednesday after more than 100 days in custody, sporting a blue construction worker’s jacket, a light blue cap and a facemask.
Lawyer Takashi Takano said the bizarre get-up was a bid to protect Ghosn’s privacy, and particularly to avoid media tracking him to the residence where he will live while out on bail. But Takano acknowledged the plan backfired, with the world’s media instead snapping photos and filming video of Ghosn, transformed from his previously suave executive image.
“The disguise was all planned and carried out by me,” Takano wrote in a blog article posted today. “Due to my amateur plan, the fame he has built over a lifetime was tainted.” “I caused tangible and intangible damage to many people. I feel sorry about that,” he added. Takano said his only goal had been to prevent the media from locating Ghosn’s residence. “Not only would he not be able to have his life back but also his health would be damaged,” if the home was located, Takano said. “The life of his family and his neighbours would be threatened. We definitely needed to avoid such situation.”
In the event, not only was Ghosn widely filmed and photographed in the bizarre disguise, including as he got into a silver minivan complete with a workman’s ladder, but media in helicopters and on motorbikes tracked the vehicle around Tokyo.
He was initially taken to Takano’s office, but was later able to leave and the exact location of his Tokyo residence remains unclear.
The day after Ghosn’s release, Japanese media devoted news programmes to dissecting Ghosn’s disguise, with some stations even dressing up doubles in similar garb to discuss the outfit.
Ghosn’s release was the latest twist in a saga that has gripped the business world in Japan and beyond since his November 19 arrest.
Ghosn, who faces three charges of financial misconduct, must adhere to strict conditions in addition to the nearly US$9 million (RM36.8 million) he paid in bail.
He must stay in a residence in Tokyo designated by the court, with a surveillance camera installed at the door. Footage from the camera must be submitted to the court periodically.
He can only use a computer at his lawyer’s office and will not be able to access the internet.
Takano said Ghosn’s bail will be cancelled if any of the rules are violated and “he would have to return to the tough life in custody.”
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The Tokyo District Court set bail at 500 million yen (S$6 million) as the 65-year-old auto sector legend faces four charges ranging from concealing part of his salary from shareholders to siphoning off Nissan funds for his personal use.
Prosecutors are likely to appeal against the court’s decision, delaying his immediate release, but public broadcaster NHK said he could walk out of his detention centre “as early as Thursday”.
Ghosn denies all the charges, with a spokesman for the executive saying on Monday that he would “vigorously defend himself against these baseless accusations and fully expects to be vindicated”.
The spokesman said Ghosn was being detained “under cruel and unjust conditions, in violation of his human rights, in an effort by prosecutors to coerce a confession from him”.
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Ghosn has already been granted bail once, posting US$9 million and vowing not to leave Japan and to live in a small court-appointed apartment in central Tokyo – a far cry from his former luxury suite.
Last time he left the detention centre in northern Tokyo, he was dressed in a cap, face mask and workman’s uniform in an apparent attempt to evade dozens of journalists from around the world hoping to snap a picture of the fallen tycoon.
The bizarre stunt was cooked up by one of his lawyers, Mr Takashi Takano, who later apologised for “tainting” the reputation of his client who usually appears in public in sharp suits.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/japan-court-grants-6m-bail-to-former-nissan-boss-carlos-ghosn
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3 June 2019
Carlos Ghosn’s Lawyer Says Bail Conditions Violate Human Rights
Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer Takashi Takano claims that the bail conditions the former Nissan chairman is being held under constitute a breach of human rights.
Japan Today reports that Ghosn is forbidden from seeing wife Carole, including in the presence of lawyers, and can’t even talk to her on the phone. Prosecutors claim this measure was necessary to prevent evidence tampering.
“This is unfair,” Takano recently said. “It’s cruel and unusual.”
Takano has been fighting to remove this condition of Ghosn’s bail and has had appeals rejected by district and appeals courts. The Supreme Court also turned down his request last month but the lawyer says he will continue to file new petitions, asserting that the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality or the human rights aspects of Ghosn’s bail.
Lawyers recently filed a petition with the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, asserting that restricting Ghosn from seeing his wife represents a deprivation of fundamental human rights.
Ghosn was recently seen in court as part of a pre-trial session where both sides hand in evidence. Preparations for trials in Japan typically take months, and a trial date has yet to be set.
The former industry executive was arrested in November and charged with falsifying financial documents in reporting retirement compensation. He has also been charged with breach of trust in diverting Nissan funds towards personal investment losses.
Ghosn has long protested his innocence on all charges and attributed them to a coup by his former Nissan colleagues, but faces an uphill battle in being exonerated as the conviction rate in Japan is higher than 99 per cent.
https://www.carscoops.com/2019/06/carlos-ghosns-lawyer-says-bail-conditions-violate-human-rights/
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Feb 12, 2019 – Ghosn said Wednesday he hired Junichiro Hironaka to be his new lawyer and help him with the “trial phase” of his case. The outgoing lawyers ..
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4 April 2019 – Hironaka: “Ghosn’s Lawyer Responds After Ex-Nissan Chief Arrested Again”
COMMENTS
Prosecutors were/are interrogating him daily and pushing him to SIGN a confession written in JAPANESE, a language Ghosn does not speak!!!
ONAFHANKLIK 
[…] Carlos Ghosn – Takashi Takano – Junichiro Hironaka […]
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