Ex-Nissan chief makes fresh bail request

TOKYO: Lawyers for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn yesterday filed a fresh bail request for the auto titan who has been detained for more than three months, the Tokyo District Court said.

It is the first bail request filed by the 64-year- old since he shook up his legal team as he crafts his defence to three charges of financial misconduct.

The former high-flying executive has been in detention since his shock Nov 19 arrest, and has tried repeatedly without success to secure bail.

Reached by AFP, an assistant lawyer for Ghosn’s lead attorney declined to explain how the bail request would differ from previous filings.

Ghosn’s previous legal team even deployed a rarely-used article of the Japanese constitution to force the court to explain why the Franco- Lebanese- Brazi lian remained in detention.

A judge said Ghosn’s continued detention was justified because he posed a flight risk and there was a possibility he would conceal evidence.

Ghosn and his lawyers have argued that neither of those is the case, and he even offered to wear a tracking bracelet and hire guards to monitor his whereabouts, pledging to stay in Japan.

But so far the courts have shown no inclination to end his lengthy pre- trial detention, which has drawn some criticism internationally and from rights groups.

Prosecutors have defended his detention while they investigate three charges of financial misconduct, two involving alleged under-reporting of his salary and a third over a complex scheme in which Ghosn allegedly sought to transfer his losses to Nissan’s books. —