Ghosn's Lawyers Have a Big Day Planned Tomorrow

Renault CEO and ex-Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn is apparently very eager to tell his story, and tomorrow he’ll get his chance. The industry titan, who has resided in a Tokyo jail since his Nov. 19 arrest, is scheduled to appear at a Tokyo court hearing Tuesday — a hearing his team of lawyers fought hard to get.

Following Ghosn’s appearance, those lawyers plan to go before the media.

The exec faces charges of underreporting his income in statements to Japanese regulators and accusations of offloading personal financial losses to the company. A re-arrest just prior to Christmas kept the exec from seeking bail.

As Automotive News reports, the hearing only came about after Ghosn’s legal team petitioned the court to allow the suspect to hear the justification for his detention — a seldom-used avenue in Japanese law. The hearing is expected to last one hour. After that, it’s off to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo for lawyers Motonari Otsuru, Go Kondo and Masato Oshikubo, who plan to describe Ghosn’s defence and field questions from reporters.

Ghosn’s son, Anthony, says his father plans to mount a “vigorous defence.” Speaking to French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche, the younger Ghosn said, “Everyone will be pretty surprised to hear his version of the story. Until now, we have only heard the accusation.”

Anthony Ghosn said his father’s new diet of three bowls of rice a day led the executive to drop 22 pounds, Bloomberg reports. While both Renault and the French government chose to take a wait-and-see approach, Nissan, which sparked Ghosn’s initial arrest following an internal investigation, and fellow alliance member Mitsubishi both dropped the exec from their chairman positions. This has created a rift in the deeply entwined alliance.

“When the only condition for his release is a confession, you want to find a solution to end this nightmare,” Anthony Ghosn said, describing his father’s unenviable situation. Under Japanese law, authorities can only hold Ghosn until January 11th, though a further indictment would extend his detention — as it has in the past.

[Image: Nissan]