In rare decision, Japan court grants bail to ex-Nissan chief

A Japanese court has granted bail to the former chairman of Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Carlos Ghosn, more than three months after his arrest over allegations of financial misconduct.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday that the Tokyo district court had set the bail at nine million dollars on the condition that Ghosn submit to video surveillance and communications monitoring as part of his bail application.

Prosecutors, however, appealed the surprise bail decision later in the day.

According to reports, granting bail before a confession is rare in Japan.

The same court had twice rejected Ghosn’s bail application, arguing that he was a flight risk and might try to tamper with evidence.

The ex-chairman of Nissan, Mitsubishi, and France’s Renault has been in custody at a detention center in the Japanese capital since his arrest last November.

Ghosn is charged with under-reporting his compensation at Nissan for nearly a decade until 2018 as well as charges of aggravated breach of trust.

Japanese media reported that Ghosn had reported around 10 billion yen worth of annual compensation as around 5 billion yen.

Ghosn faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

The 64-year-old has denied any wrongdoing.

The new court decision came a day after Ghosn’s newly-appointed legal team, led by lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, vowed a “completely new legal strategy” to obtain their client’s release.

Given the number of people involved in the case, Hironaka said the case was likely to run over a “very long time span.”

However, he said prosecutors had begun handing over some “convincing” evidence prior to a potential trial in the coming months.

The Brazilian-born, of Lebanese descent, who is also a French citizen, began his career at Michelin tire manufacturer in France, moving on to Renault. He joined Nissan in 1999 after Renault bought a controlling stake and became its CEO in 2001. Ghosn remained in that post until 2017.