Accused American Nissan exec could beat charge

TOKYO — Greg Kelly, the American executive accused of aiding ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn in allegedly misappropriating funds from the automaker, has a high chance of being acquitted, a prominent former Japanese prosecutor believes.

Kelly, a former Nissan administrative and human resources executive from Nashville, was arrested with Ghosn in Tokyo in November 2018. He is still awaiting trial there, while Ghosn illegally slipped out of the country late last year to reside in Lebanon. Both men were charged with illegally concealing some $80 million in deferred compensation due to Ghosn after retirement.

Both Ghosn and Kelly denied the charges against them, but his boss' surprise departure from Japan leaves Kelly to face court by himself.

However, Nobuo Gohara — a former Tokyo prosecutor now in private practice who is an outspoken critic of Japan's justice system — said Kelly's charges do not constitute a crime. Not reporting unpaid, future compensation does not rise to the level of falsifying securities filings, Gohara argued.

"I think there is a high possibility that he will be found innocent," Gohara told reporters here last week at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

Gohara also said that if Ghosn had stayed in Japan to face trial, he probably would have been cleared on at least the compensation charge for the same reason. But Gohara was less sure about Ghosn's fate on two charges on breach of trust. Kelly was not indicted on those charges.

"It is clear that the alleged violation of the financial instruments and exchange law doesn't constitute a clear and serious crime," Gohara said.

Kelly is accused of working out the plans for Ghosn's deferred compensation scheme.

Gohara's assessment of the charges comes after spending more than 10 hours interviewing Ghosn in November and December for an upcoming book. His last interview with Ghosn came Dec. 27, just two days before Ghosn is believed to have begun his secret exit to Lebanon.

But Ghosn's escape has put Gohara's book project "up in the air now," he said.

Gohara worked as a prosecutor for 23 years and has an insider's knowledge of the prosecutor office's thinking. He has repeatedly raised doubts about Ghosn's indictment since his arrest in 2018.

"It is an anomaly that the prosecutors filed a criminal case for unpaid executive compensation," Gohara said. "There has been no such case in the past."

If Nissan found any problems with Ghosn's remuneration in securities filings, Gohara said, the company should have first handled the issue at a board meeting and simply corrected the report.

Instead, officials inside the company went first to prosecutors in an unorthodox move, he said.

With Ghosn now in Lebanon, which has no extradition treaty with Japan, he may never stand trial. But Kelly's case is expected to head to court in April as planned, his lawyer Yoichi Kitamura told Automotive News.

Nissan declined to comment on the case, but referred to an earlier statement saying that its internal investigation found "incontrovertible evidence of various acts of misconduct."