{"id":7076,"date":"2019-03-05T10:55:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T10:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/?p=7076"},"modified":"2019-03-05T10:55:35","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T10:55:35","slug":"former-nissan-boss-granted-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/former-nissan-boss-granted-bail\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NISSAN Boss Granted Bail After Three Months In Jail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former auto industry titan Carlos Ghosn moved a step closer to freedom Tuesday as a Tokyo court unexpectedly granted him bail after more than three months in detention.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the latest twist in a case that has kept Japan and the business world gripped since the tycoon\u2019s shock arrest on November 19 over suspicions of financial misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court set bail at one billion yen ($9 million), but prosecutors are likely to appeal the decision and could even file additional allegations against the 64-year-old to keep him from leaving detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under his bail terms, Ghosn is banned from leaving Japan and must adhere to conditions aimed at preventing him from fleeing or destroying evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shock decision came a day after Ghosn\u2019s new lead defence lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters he had filed a \u201cconvincing\u201d application for bail that contained fresh elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hironaka, who has a reputation for securing acquittals for high-profile clients in a country where almost all court cases end in conviction, offered greater surveillance of Ghosn and a limit on his electronic communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court has previously said Ghosn\u2019s continued detention was justified because he posed a flight risk and could seek to tamper with evidence. It had already rejected two official bail bids and other attempts to win freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, his prolonged stay behind bars has come under fire internationally and from rights groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to AFP and French daily Les Echos in January \u2014 his only interview with foreign media so far \u2014 Ghosn himself said that his continued detention \u201cwould not be normal in any other democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy am I being punished before being found guilty?\u201d Ghosn asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former head of Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Renault faces three charges \u2014 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\u2019s books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further claims of financial misconduct have been levelled against him and prosecutors may yet slap him with additional allegations to keep him in detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Japanese law, prosecutors can hold a suspect for up to 22 days while they investigate an allegation, and then can apply for repeated one-month stretches of pre-trial detention for each charge eventually levelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means prosecutors could effectively prevent Ghosn from leaving detention despite today\u2019s bail decision if they level new allegations against him, starting the 22-day detention clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghosn has denied all the allegations against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a shake-up of his legal team last month, Ghosn replaced a former prosecutor known as \u201cthe breaker\u201d with Hironaka, who has earned the nickname \u201cthe acquitter\u201d for his court record and the \u201crazor\u201d for his mental sharpness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hironaka vowed a \u201ccompletely new legal strategy\u201d to obtain his client\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawyer also took aim at Nissan, raising questions as to why the Japanese firm brought a case to prosecutors over incidents that allegedly took place more than 10 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nissan declined to comment on the bail decision, saying it was a matter for courts and prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it said that an internal probe had \u201cuncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct\u201d and that \u201cfurther discoveries related to Ghosn\u2019s misconduct continue to emerge\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe company\u2019s focus is firmly on addressing weaknesses in governance that failed to prevent this misconduct,\u201d it added in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former auto industry titan Carlos Ghosn moved a step closer to freedom Tuesday as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[948],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7103,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7076\/revisions\/7103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aigmediapro.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}