Greg Kelly, former CEO of Nissan Motor Co., enters Tokyo District Court, Tokyo, Japan, March 3, 2022. Zhang Xiaoyu / Pool via REUTERS
TOKYO, March 3 – A Tokyo court on Thursday sentenced Nissan Motor CEO Greg Kelly to six months probation for helping Carlos Gon evade pay from financial regulators, paving the way for the U.S. attorney to return to home after more than three years in Japan.
“The court finds the presence of unpaid remuneration” and non-disclosure of the “total amount” constitutes “false” reporting, the chief judge said.
The decision by him and the other two judges also blames a key prosecution witness, Toshiaki Onuma, for his role in Gon’s alleged failure to disclose $ 80 million in revenue in eight years.
Onuma, a Nissan employee who oversaw the details of Gon’s compensation, avoided the accusations in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.
“Onuma’s statement is fraught with the danger that he will make statements that meet the wishes of prosecutors,” the judge said. “There was a danger that, as an accomplice, he would seek to transfer responsibility to Gon,” he added.
The court also fined Nissan 200 million yen ($ 1.73 million) for failing to disclose Gon’s pay. The Japanese carmaker №3 pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial 18 months ago.
More than three years after Kelly’s arrest, Gon and Gon put an end to a case that threatens to irritate relations between Japan and the United States, their close ally. Some Western observers have criticized the Japanese judiciary for its treatment of Kelly.
Suspects in Japan are not allowed to be present with a lawyer during interrogations and can be detained for up to three weeks without charge. And 99% of cases that go to trial end in a verdict.
“While it was three long years for the Kelly family, this chapter is over. He and Dee (his wife) can start their next chapter in Tennessee, “said US Ambassador to Japan Ram Emanuel in a statement.
Kelly has denied violating the law and says his only intention is to give Gon, who was also Renault’s chief executive, a compensation package to dissuade him from turning to a competing carmaker.
Bill Hagerty, a U.S. senator from Kelly’s home state of Tennessee, said he planned to meet his constituency at the airport.
“Greg has been subjected to circumstances that corporate America could never have considered,” Hagarty said. “Greg is innocent of the charges against him,” he added.
The court ruling does not mean the end of the legal problems facing the former head of Nissan and partner in the alliance Renault SA (RENA.PA), but may be closest to the court in Tokyo until the decision on Ghosn’s guilt.
Gon is out of the reach of Japanese prosecutors after fleeing to Lebanon in 2019, hidden in a box on a private plane, although he cannot leave without risking arrest.
In addition to the accusation that he hid his profits, Gonn is also accused of enriching himself at the expense of his employer by paying $ 5 million to a car dealership in the Middle East and temporarily transferring personal investment losses to his ex’s books. employer.
Gon denied all charges against him.
(1 dollar = 115.5900 yen)
Report by Tim Kelly and Satoshi Sugiyama; Edited by Jacqueline Wong and Grant McCool and Michael Perry
Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.