Lawyer: Nissan exec arrested with Ghosn asserts innocence

What else would he say?

They have not been able to make any comments while detained in Japan.

And Japan is considered a democracy??

This should be a lesson to those who don't already know----don't fall foul of the law in a foreign country. Your Consul will tell you that he cannot do anything. Like it or not, that's how it is.

Shouldn’t be released as he is a flight risk. House arrest until trial is probably best.

They should charge him with something instead of indefinite detention (which based on yesterday's article seems to be the intent). Trying to isolate him and get a forced confession out of him is shameful. Investigators should do their job and present evidence. This seems like something I would expect in an old Eastern Block country. I do not understand how anyone can justify this.

Of course if Ghosn is guilty he should be punished. Any Nissan board members that aided and abetted this or knew about this also need to be punished.

To me Ghosn sounds like a greedy SOB

Saikawa may find the court of public opinion turning against him. I doubt he has enough political capital within Nissan, and he is airing too much dirty laundry which is not too welcome here.

I doubt he’ll be retained by the board either because he is bringing in too much attention that may shift focus.

He may be the true fall guy.

@Mike

I assume that Saikawa worked behind the scenes (nemawashi) with all of the pertinent power players before making his move on Ghosn. I think he'll end up in the clear, no matter what. But it's possible that he may have been sloppy, and this will come back to bite him. We shall see.

It sees to be judges who are not doing their jobs. The prosecutor has to apply to a judge for a day extension. What good is a judge who just rubber days the prosecutors demand?

As judges in Japan are selected by the Ministry of Justice, they are not really independent. They are scared. (The Enigma of Japanese Power, by Karel Van Wolferen. Chapter : Scared Judges)

The prosecutor has become the judge, and the judge has become just a token sentence passer

Most of Japans judiciary seem to be a little club who mostly went to Kieo University.

He is being w/o being charged while held incommunicado and unable to defend himself from a media bent on destroying his reputation for a non-violent crime. Both the Tokyo prosecutors's office and the media are doing the bidding of the Japanese PM - they serve at his leisure, and Ghosn's plan to have Renault, which holds 42% of Nissan stock, take over this company that is emblematic of Japan is an existential threat that Abe's revisionist government cannot allow.

Whether or not Ghosn is guilty of the allegations against him, it’s been likely from the beginning that his successor at Nissan has been playing some serious hard ball to remove him completely from the company. He doesn’t want Ghosn or his influence around any longer and has enlisted the entire Japanese business and legal establishment to do his dirty work for him.

seadog538Today  09:01 am JST

This should be a lesson to those who don't already know----don't fall foul of the law in a foreign country. Your Consul will tell you that he cannot do anything. Like it or not, that's how it is.

As far as I am aware Ghosn has not been charged yet. So how can you already conclude he is guilty?

He committed no crime.

Even if they are guilty, I don't understand why they are coming down on them so hard. Don't Japanese exec cheat on there taxes all the time here? It does not seem like it would be as big of a deal if the CEO and exec were Japanese. Remember the TEPCO scandal and the shady goverment land sell? Don't hear about that anymore.

Ex_Res said “Most of Japans judiciary seem to be a little club who mostly went to Kieo University.”

This is really true - judges in Japan are not free to express independent judgement. Not toeing the government line is punished by banishment to some backcountry jurisdiction and no chance of promotion or increase in salary.

 Don't Japanese exec cheat on there taxes all the time here? It does not seem like it would be as big of a deal if the CEO and exec were Japanese. Remember the TEPCO scandal and the shady goverment land sell? Don't hear about that anymore.

They may well cheat. However, the "big" scandals such as Toshiba and Olympus don't generally involve the execs seeking personal gain, at least not outwardly. The stories tend to tell us the cheating was done for the company. If Ghosn was simply taking money to add to his personal wealth, should we consider that the Japanese execs were genuinely horrified?

Why we do work if not for personal gain?

And without Carlos Ghosn there might well not be a Nissan car company in existence today.....

To me Ghosn sounds like a greedy SOB

You were doing so well until you said that.