Carlos Ghosn granted bail as fresh charges surface

The on-again, off-again saga of Carlos Ghosn took another major twist today with the former Renault-Nissan kingpin receiving approval for bail for a second time.

In an almost unprecedented move, a Japanese court yesterday approved a 500 million yen (US$4.5 million) bail for Ghosn to ease his way into temporary and limited freedom. Again.

The Tokyo District Court agreed to Ghosn’s bail just three days after prosecutors indicted him on fresh charges of using US$5 million of Nissan’s money, via an intermediary in Oman, for personal use. It has now indicted Ghosn four times.

The bail approval comes only days after France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, over Ghosn’s treatment after frantic intervention from the businessman’s wife over his treatment and Japan’s alleged “hostage-justice” system.

Ghosn, 65, was re-arrested from his court-approved accommodation in Tokyo on April 4 and he has so far been in jail for 22 days after a 108-day stint in jail following his original arrest last November.

Ghosn was the chief architect of Renault’s bailout of the then-struggling Nissan, taking 34 percent of the company and three board seats, including the CEO and Chairman’s posts.

He ruled the Alliance almost unchallenged for more than 15 years, though that came unstuck suddenly last November when his own Nissan board reported him to Tokyo prosecutors.

The board said it was reacting to an uncovered scandal, while Ghosn says he was the victim of a palace coup from a board that vehemently disagreed with a proposed full merger with Renault.

It is not known whether Ghosn will receive a refund on his original bail posting of a billion yen (US$8.9 million), or whether the new bail amount is on top of that figure.

He was released within 24 hours of his first bail approval, though there has been no announcement about the timing of his second release.

In the new indictment, Tokyo prosecutors allege aggravated breach of trust by Ghosn for allegedly moving US$2.5 million in July 2017 and another US$2.5 million a year later through a third company “virtually owned by him.”

He has previously been charged with two counts of allegedly misreporting tens of millions of dollars in deferred compensation and a third of breach of trust, though Ghosn maintains his innocence of all charges.

The French-Lebanese-Brazilian businessman released a video statement earlier this month insisting he was the victim of a “backstabbing” board, and that he would “not be broken” by his “outrageous and arbitrary” arrest.

“This is not about greed. This is not about dictatorship. This is about a plot. This is about conspiracy. This is about backstabbing,” Ghosn said before his latest arrest.

“There was first a fear that the next step of the alliance, in terms of convergence and in terms of moving toward a merger, would, in a certain way, threaten some people or eventually threaten the autonomy of Nissan.

“I'm talking about people who really played a very dirty game.”