Japanese Justice or Farce?

It’s will be interesting seeing Ghosn in a Japanese court, if he ever gets there. However, a bigger issue is the empire, aka Alliance – can it be saved?

Carlos Ghosn remains in a tiny jail cell for at least the rest of the year a Tokyo court ruled today, Sunday 23 December 2018. Ghosn stays locked up until 1 January 2019, giving the Japanese “authorities” added time to question him – without his lawyer present – on more alleged wrongdoings as Nissan Motors CEO.

Under so-called Japanese law, which appears to be a tsunami-sized affront to U.S. law and its English common law precedents, prosecutors can then demand that Ghosn be held for another 10 days — that is jail time until to 11 January 2019. AutoInformed won’t be surprised if another alleged charge is filed then. (Nissan Mired in Japanese Corporate Governance Scandals)

 AutoInformed on:

• Nissan Board Deletes Carlos Ghosn as Chairman and Director
• Ghosn, Kelly and Nissan Motor Corp. Indicted for Violating the Japan Financial Instruments and Exchange Act
• Renault Board Investigation Backs Ghosn. Governance Measures Stay in Place. Compensation Controversy Ongoing.

Thus – as predicted – this growing case, aside from revealing the rift between Nissan and its European partner Renault that saved it from bankruptcy, has cast a cold beam of light on Japanese corporate governance – or is that non-governance? – practices, as well .as Japanese justice.

As AutoInformed previously noted, “After reviewing an internal investigation, the circumstances under which it was established, and its contents remain secret in the murky and oft-criticized world of Japanese corporate management, the Nissan board voted unanimously:

• To discharge Carlos Ghosn as Chairman of the Board
• To discharge Carlos Ghosn as Representative Director
• To discharge Greg Kelly as Representative Director
• To “study the creation of a special committee to appropriately take advice from an independent third party regarding the governance management system and better governance of director compensation. The three independent directors – Masakazu Toyoda, Keiko Ihara and Jean-Baptiste Duzan – will lead the study, well, of a possible study.”