Former Nissan executive Greg Kelly pleads not guilty as trial begins

I hope he nails Ghosn and save himself at least.

I honestly hope Kelly is found innocent, or if guilty, with a minimal or suspended sentence. He acted honorably and abided by the rules and is presenting his defense in a responsible manner. Not to mention that Kelly is not charged with buying luxury apartments all over the world or funneling company money through offshore companies in in wife's name. Kelly's conduct throughout this ordeal is the image I'd like Japan to have of Americans, and foreigners by extension, regardless of the outcome of the trial.

If this was a Japanese executive, everyone would ignore this story and automatically assume he was guilty no questions asked. Greg Kelly is a foreigner like us so he is automatically innocent because we all have inside eyes on Nissan's daily operations.

Top management at Nissan fretted they might lose Ghosn, who occasionally complained he could make more money elsewhere even though he was paid more than most Japanese top executives. They researched lawful methods to provide incentives for him to say, consulting with in-house and outside attorneys to try to retain him.

Elsewhere?

Ghosn was offered double his Japanese salary by the Obama administration and he refused because he wanted to stay at Nissan.

It's in the book "Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry"

only those who are almost certainly guilty are being charged

er...anyone spot the circular logic?

Sh1mon M4sadaToday  01:46 pm JST

I hope he nails Ghosn and save himself at least.

Agree .

It's very sad Kelly is the undeserving fall guy.

But, I believe, he'll walk.

And, it wont be long before Ghosn will be offered to Japan Justice System in the end.

Lebanon is not a comfortable hideout for Ghosn these days.

.

The maximum penalty for the charge of falsifying fiscal statements is 10 years in prison

What's the penalty for using forced confessions on a trial?

And for hiring a hacker to spy on Ghosn e-mails?

And for denying bail for more than a year of detention?

"The evidence will show that I did not break the law," said Kelly, who has a law degree and was hired by Nissan in the U.S. in 1988.

Some evidence already emerge that all of this just company internal problem

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/how-a-powerful-nissan-insider-brought-down-carlos-ghosn/

Nissan and Japanese regime are doing what is called a Lawfare.

Lawfare :  the misuse of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, tying up their time or winning a public relations victory.

So, 2 years after his arrest Kelly finally gets his day in court. Were this anywhere but Japan, Kelly’s case would have already been heard and decided.

As for Ghosn, his first day in court was tentatively set for April of 2021. And that date was only for the first charge, the other charges were to be tried consecutively, meaning Ghosn faced several years in detention even if he was acquitted on all charges.

As for Nissan, what has been the cost of throwing Ghosn under the bus? So far the cost is more than $10 billion, and the loss of some 20,000 jobs. All this because Ghosn overpaid himself by $68 million (which he was never received), and bought properties in Nissan’s name (but these are still property of Nissan).

Ghosn was combining Nissan and Renault into a single company trading under a single stock. This would have greatly streamlined operations and logistics, Nissans would have easier access to the world market, Renault would have had more access to the Japanese market.

But as Renault was (is) the majority shareholder in Nissan, and the French government is the majority shareholder of Renault, Nissan would have lost its Japanese identity, and one of the crown jewels of Japan Inc would no longer have been Japanese. To many in the company, that was unacceptable.

Ive lived in Japan for well over 20 years and as a small business owner my business taxes (sales etc) have been well over 30000000 yen during this period (as well as millions and millions more for my Japanese suppliers for the actual products as well as millions and millions for business expenses)

Ive contributed a huge amount to the Japanese coffers

Im just an ant compared to Ghosn san but see how they have treated him and we can see it's pretty much hopeless for any entrepreneur here...

Well, if Nissan has claimed guilt, Kelly's trial has a foregone conclusion - Guilt by association. Were by some far fetched Miracle, he be found not guilty, then Nissan could ask for a retrial, and recoup the fine.... but there's 2.4 billion reasons for that not happening.

"The maximum penalty for the charge of falsifying fiscal statements is 10 years in prison."

at his age they may want to put him under suicide watch....

"Acquittals are extremely rare in Japanese criminal trials, more than 99% of which result in convictions"

there is a lot of J- hate and vengeance for him being Ghosn's great escape business friend. They want to fry him, to save face.

One thing in Kelly's favor is that this is a high-profile case which is getting international attention. That point won't be lost on the prosecutors or judge.

I hope Carlos Ghosn generously offers to pay his legal fees.

Personally, I think Ghosn probably did do some dodgy things but nothing that warranted an arrest. It should have all been handled at the board level. He could have been voted off the board.

Oh, boy! A not guilty plea is gonna drag this out for years.

The trial is expected to continue for about 10 months.

Ending in mid-July just as the international press arrives for the Olympics, perhaps generating attention that makes the Justice Ministry uncomfortable.

Poor devil is in hot water, and he looks scared, and seriously worried, the j-media newspapers, and wingnuts, are blaming him for everything, the way they are hatin on this american , you'd think he was involved in ww2. The rhetoric is spewing with j- vile hate and anti americanism towards him, for messing with their cash cow.

I wish you a miracle and peace Kelly.

So Nissan pays a bit... 2.4 billion yen ($22.6 million) and is not criminal

while the outsiders are jailbirds

no other executives charged?

All people in this case should be on trail. why not saikawa. He was involved too. Too unfair. GAMBATE MR Kelly.

A representative for Nissan told the court the pay schemes did not benefit Nissan and were aimed at Ghosn's personal gain, but instead damaged investor trust and tarnished the company's brand.

No.

Nissan’s internal “whistleblowers” are the ones who damaged trust and the company’s brand - and its share price.

Ghosn and Kelly should both be free men.

They surely can’t be even “almost certain of guilt”, and in a normal modern justice system they err on the side of keeping innocent people out of prison, rather than in it.

A representative for Nissan told the court the pay schemes did not benefit Nissan and were aimed at Ghosn's personal gain, but instead damaged investor trust and tarnished the company's brand.

Who made the payments Nissan, even if the payments benefited Ghosn, the culprit here is Nissan that used fraudulent means to please Ghosn and retain him,

Business experts say Japanese executives are often promised pay but with conditions such as the company performance, and they can end up not getting any money, meaning that how such compensation should be reported may be unclear.

Based on assumption and not laid out in gold, I fail to see how it is such a serious crime.

I hope he nails Ghosn and save himself at least.

Nails Ghosn for what? Saving Nissan from bankruptcy?

And how can he nail Ghosn if Ghosn is unavailable to be prosecuted?

He has aged so much in the face since 2018, and some say "there may be related health stress issues", while being in a "restricted situation" (passport confiscated).

Down here in Okinawa, the nationalist are on his case with hellfire, adding to the anti american sentiment.

Sorry but there is NO WAY Japan or Nissan are going to save ANY face in this BS trial, that horse has LONG bolted the stable.....just sayin!

Well, if Japan has a 99% conviction rate no matter if the person is really guilty or not then we should all kind of understand why Ghosn slipped the coup. How can you stay in a country where your trial is a foregone conclusion?

"The experts believed Nissan was doomed, Kelly said, but "Mr. Ghosn proved the experts wrong. Under Mr. Ghosn, Nissan became very profitable." not now is it ? let it nose dive, they deserve it.

"he could make more money elsewhere even though he was paid more than most Japanese top executives."

aaah, its just become a little bit clearer..... jealousy

if Nissan goes under they have only them selfs to blame. I hope Mr Kelly gets the full press coverage he deserves. and the right out come.

Dear Mr. Kelly, you really look aged, I hope this trial ends soon and with an Innocent verdict so you can go back home were you belong.

Good Luck.

When is the next hearing?

Is it gonna be like once a week?

" I hope this trial ends soon and with an Innocent verdict so you can go back home were you belong."

Unlikely , he has fell into the clutches of the J-side rightwing nationalist imperial supremacist, + chitty chiity bang bang yaks and thangs...he's in deep do do at the wrong time, the wrong decade and the wrong year.