Tokyo

Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn is expected to fight tooth and nail charges of financial misconduct brought against him by Japanese public prosecutors.

Ghosn, 65, who was arrested in Tokyo on Nov. 19 last year, denies the charges. His defense team will seek to have his cases dropped on grounds that they were based on illegal investigations.

Specifically, the defense team will argue that plea bargains made by senior Nissan officials, as well as the company’s cooperation with prosecutors in their investigations, were intended to oust Ghosn from his position at the Japanese automaker.

Ghosn has been charged with failing to report in Nissan financial statements executive pay of some 9.1 billion yen that he hoped to receive after retirement.

His lawyers will claim that there was no such compensation. The defense team will also oppose using as evidence statements by Nissan officials who spoke about the payments in their plea bargains and seek to question them during the trial.

The former Nissan chairman has also faced charges of funneling company funds for personal gain with the help of a Saudi businessman and a Nissan sales agent in Oman, and transferring his private losses to the automaker.

Prosecutors believe that Ghosn transferred Nissan funds to the two people, both of whom allegedly gave him financial aid after the former chairman suffered personal losses in the financial crisis of 2008.

Ghosn’s lawyers will argue that the fund transfers were rewards for services and incentive payments, and that they had nothing to do with past financial help.

On the alleged transfer of his private losses to Nissan, the defense team will say that the action did not inflict any losses on the company and that it was approved by the automaker's board of directors.

The trial is expected to begin next spring, and pretrial procedures have been underway at Tokyo District Court since May. Hearings are expected to be conducted over successive days once the trial starts, with the focus initially on the charges of making false financial statements.

Nissan and former director Greg Kelly, 63, who was a close aide of Ghosn, have also been charged with helping the former chairman hide his compensation. The company plans to plead guilty, but Kelly will plead not guilty.

The prosecution will also seek to establish that Ghosn made questionable transfers of funds from French automaker Renault SA, Nissan's alliance partner. He led the alliance until his arrest.

Jiji Press