The Manila Times

Carlos Ghosn’s lead defense lawyer resigns

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TOKYO: Two lawyers defending former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on charges of financial misconduct quit suddenly on Wednesday, the latest shock twist in a case that has gripped Japan and the business world.

There was no immediate explanatio­n as to why the attorneys, who include lead lawyer Motonari Otsuru, were leaving Ghosn’s defence team. Contacted by AFP, the firm declined to comment.

A brief statement said only that “today Otsuru and (Masato) Oshikubo submitted letters of resignatio­n to the court as the defence lawyers for the case of Mr. Ghosn”.

The surprise decision came on the eve of an expected first meeting between the Tokyo District Court, prosecutor­s, and defence lawyers to discuss the outlines of Ghosn’s trial.

Hot-shot lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, 73, confirmed that he had been asked to join the legal team.

Hironaka is a veteran and celebrated defence lawyer, known for taking on tough and high-profile cases and securing not- guilty verdicts in a country where prosecutor­s win nearly 99 percent of cases that come to trial.

Among his achievemen­ts, Hironaka was involved in the successful defence in 2012 of influentia­l politician Ichiro Ozawa, a shrewd election strategist accused of playing a role in misreporti­ng political funds.

Speaking outside his office, he told reporters: “I met with Mr. Ghosn and I met with his family and they said they want me to take the case. So I accepted.”

Ghosn has been in detention since November 19 and faces charges including under-reporting his compensati­on and attempting to shift personal investment losses to his employer’s books.

There had been no public sign of a rift between Ghosn and his lead lawyers, though neither the executive nor the attorney have spoken much publicly since the arrest.

Otsuru gave a single press conference after Ghosn made a brief court appearance on January 8 to challenge his ongoing detention.

The owlish defence lawyer cut a cautious figure at the press event, telling journalist­s that his client was unlikely to make bail before his case came to court, which he said could take six months.

He also pointedly declined to criticise Ghosn’s detention conditions, despite some internatio­nal concern about the repeated extension of the auto executive’s pre- trial custody.

Although he has taken on some of Japan’s most high-publicity cases, Otsuru is known for maintainin­g a low media profile and little is known about his personal life.

A former prosecutor, the bespectacl­ed 63-year- old with floppy greying hair earned the soubriquet “the breaker” as he was so good at extracting confession­s from suspects.

In a twist of fate, representi­ng Ghosn’s pitted him against prosecutor Hiroshi Morimoto, a former colleague.

Ghosn, who has lost his leadership roles at Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Renault, denies the allegation­s against him and slammed his ongoing detention in an interview with AFP and French newspaper Les Echos earlier this month.

“Why am I being punished before being found guilty?” Ghosn asked in an interview at the Tokyo detention centre.

Ghosn is accused of under-reporting his income between 2010 and 2015 to the tune of five billion yen ($46 million) and continuing to do so for a further three years.

He also stands accused of a complex scheme to try to pass off personal foreign exchange losses to Nissan and using company funds to reimburse a Saudi contact who stumped up collateral for him.

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