Ex-Ghosn aide Kelly confident of being acquitted on Thursday

"There was no need to report because Carlos Ghosn never got paid, and there was never an agreement to pay Carlos Ghosn.”

Well said. Fingers crossed.

The prosecutors argued that Kelly played a role in coming up with a scheme to compensate Ghosn with deferred payments in addition to his regular pay, a system meant to avoid backlash over his high salary.

When did discussing a legal form of compensation (requiring reporting if enacted) become illegal?

I wonder how the Japanese will try to bend the verdict their way?

Daaaang. His cases is still going on. Two years of these and all Saikawa had to do was a half bow and enjoy his early retirement.

Time served let him go. But the unique legal system might have other plans.

its disgusting that this case has took this long to get to court.

He will be convinced but already served the time. So technically free

It was revealed in 2019 that Saikawa also had suspicious excessive payments but the prosecutor's office didn't pursue it and he resigned like all crooks do in Japan. He has been low profile ever since. If they want to pursue Ghosn and Kelly then they need to go after Saikawa as well.

"It's not fair to take that amount of time in your life in a case where nobody was paid. There wasn't an agreement to pay anything," he said.

Well said.

One implication being that Ghosn had every reason to assume his case would also drag on and on.

Enough already!

Ghosn was right all along to escape this disgusting sham of an excuse of a "justice system"

I think he’ll be found guilty (so as not to embarrass the prosecutors), but in such a way that he can leave Safety Japan immediately. A suspended sentence or a sentence equal to what he’s already served in jail.

The judge will be harsh but the sentence soft.

Really? He thinks he’ll be aquiited!

Oh well, why doesn’t Japan extradite him to france and holland to testify against Ghosn in charges against him there. And Ghosn’s wife for money laundering and Ghosns son in the USA for receiving illegal funds?

lebanon can extradite Ghosn to France. Kelly can do a plea bargain and walk away, time served.. For Ghosn ,after prison time in france and holland, Which with good behavior and media attention, maybe 18 months, he can be extradited to Japan and face another 18 months. Japan can save face. In three years time Ghosn can be free to spend his millions and millions and drink tea in his many millionaire houses.

kelly free,. Ghosn wouldn’t be trapped in Lebanon. Just 3 years, maybe less. He can write books make a movie, “ the great escape” etc.

kelly should spill the beans. Unless Ghosn is mafia…

Kelly described his life on bail in Japan as "stressful and challenging" as he was kept "10,000 kilometers away from my family and friends for three years," as well as not being able to see his grandsons.

If you think about it, we all were because of the pandemic.

"There was no need to report because Carlos Ghosn never got paid, and there was never an agreement to pay Carlos Ghosn," Kelly said in a recent interview with Kyodo News. "This is not a criminal matter, and nobody should go to jail for anything."

That sums up the entire fake case against Kelly and Ghosn! Shame that the international communities ( media, human rights organizations and foreign Governments ) didn’t do anything from the beginning to help out these two who were treated so harshly by the terrible justice system of Japan under made up charges!

His tormentors and the motley bunch led by Hari Nada should face trial in Japan for entrapment, misleading the prosecutors, wasting public resources and perverting justice. I understand that chief informants, Nada and Ohnuma, are still employed by Nissan! What a sham! This is something that the Ministry of Justice, TSE and Renault as majority shareholder should commission an investigation on to see how a select few maliciously damaged a listed company. Unless this is done Japan’s reputation is in tatters.

The judge will find something. He’s not going to risk his promotion over a foreigner.

Relentless stupidity of Japans imbecile judges.

@ Reckless - yes, the prosecutors can lodge an appeal if he is acquitted or if they feel the sentence is too low. Why not? They've screwed with this man for years, a few more months is nothing.

@Borscht - A conviction and a suspended sentence are most likely. But I don't recall if they did a sentence argument already. If they haven't, then often after a guilty verdict, the defendant's bail is canceled, he goes to jail, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled in a month or two... unless the defendant appeals, in which case the appeal to the Tokyo High Court must be held first and decided (approximately four months), before the lower court holds the sessions to determine the sentence. All the while, the defendant is spending more months in jail...

Ghosen 1 Japan 0

If Kelly is acquited on Thursday, prosecutors are planning to rearrest him on a different case. There are three more cases prepared for him.

Very happy for you.

It makes me wonder if other large corporations around the world have been watching this case unravel, as it unravels, people and companies look at this farce, and think, " do I want to invest in Japan if this is how they treat people"? would I want to be subject to this ridiculous treatment? how many companies have not invested or set up business in Japan, or moved operations else where? I bet this has cost Japan a lot of money.