Ghosn’s jail time extended as officials lay out new suspicions
‘Rearresting’ former chair makes it possible to keep him in jail without possibility of bail
Nissan Motor Co.’s Carlos Ghosn will remain in jail until at least Dec. 20 without the possibility of bail under a Tokyo District Court decision Tuesday.
Prosecutors indicted Mr. Ghosn on Monday on charges of understating his compensation on five years of Nissan’s financial reports, and they also laid out new suspicions that he did the same on an additional three years of Nissan financial reports through the year ended March 2018.
By bringing forth new suspicions—a process known in Japan as “rearresting” a suspect— prosecutors made it possible to keep Mr. Ghosn in jail for additional time without the possibility of bail.
Normally, defendants who have been indicted can seek to be released on bail.
Under the court decision Tuesday, Mr. Ghosn can be held without bail at the Tokyo Detention House for 10 days ending Dec. 20. Prosecutors can then seek to hold him without bail for an additional 10 days.
Mr. Ghosn’s lawyer appealed the decision but the appeal was turned down, the Tokyo Dis- trict Court said. The court didn’t name the lawyer.
Mr. Ghosn, who was arrested in Tokyo Nov. 19, has denied wrongdoing, according to Japa- nese public broadcaster NHK. The office of his lead Japanese lawyer, Motonari Otsuru, declined to comment.
Mr. Ghosn’s right-hand man at Nissan, Greg Kelly, was also indicted and rearrested Monday. He is charged with conspiring with Mr. Ghosn to understate Mr. Ghosn’s compensa- tion on financial reports.
The court on Tuesday likewise extended Mr. Kelly’s detention without bail until Dec. 20. Mr. Kelly’s lawyer said he believed Mr. Kelly would be proven innocent at trial. There is no maximum number of rearrests, but lawyers not involved in the case said the court would likely get suspicious if prosecutors tried to do that too many times.
Once the arrest and rearrests are over, Mr. Ghosn will still be in jail because of the indictment, but he can petition the court to be freed on bail.
Lawyers say the request is unlikely to be granted, at least initially, unless Mr. Ghosn confesses. When a defendant denies wrongdoing, prosecutors generally oppose bail by arguing that there is a risk the defendant would destroy evidence or flee.
Mr. Ghosn was chairman and chief executive of Nissan through 2017 and continued as chairman until Nissan stripped him of that role on Nov. 22.
Mr. Kelly was stripped of his title as representative director on the same day. Messrs. Ghosn and Kelly remain Nissan directors.