(Bloomberg) -- Former Nissan Motor Co. director Greg Kelly’s conviction on charges of helping Carlos Ghosn underreport his compensation should be vacated, the American executive’s lawyers said during an appeal hearing in Tokyo.
“We ask that the court consider all of the evidence presented and render an unconditional not-guilty judgment based on the law and facts that will clear Kelly’s reputation and deliver justice for Kelly,” Yoichi Kitamura told a panel of three judges who will rule on the appeal. Prosecutors meanwhile are seeking to overturn the not-guilty verdicts on other charges they brought against the former executive.
In March 2022, a court found Kelly guilty on one count for a single fiscal year, but cleared the American of the majority charges for other years and gave him a suspended sentence. The proceedings, which lasted 17 months, essentially served as a proxy trial against the former Nissan chairman, who fled Japan in late 2019 and hasn’t faced trial.
Kelly lacked any motive to overpay Ghosn and wasn’t privy to any plans, discussions or conspiracy to do so, Kitamura argued at the Tokyo District Court on Thursday. “There’s no obvious evidence that Kelly was involved,” the lawyer said.
The prosecution argued that Kelly should be found guilty on the other counts, saying that the testimony of Toshiaki Onuma, who ran the secretarial office for Nissan’s executives, paints a picture of a coordinated effort o hide Ghosn’s pay. Onuma, a key witness in the trial, testified for the prosecution in return for immunity.
The court said it will deliver its verdict on the appeal on Feb. 4.
Ghosn and Kelly were arrested on the same day in November 2018, setting off a chain of events that upended Nissan’s alliance with longtime partner Renault SA. Nissan’s profits slumped to a decade low, and the score-settling fueled an exodus of other top executives. The turmoil left the company in a weaker position as it seeks to navigate an industry that’s being disrupted by a shift toward new-energy vehicles and self-driving cars.
Kelly, who formerly oversaw human resources and legal affairs at Nissan, argued that there wasn’t an agreement to pay Ghosn, as well as no requirement to disclose any such compensation and that his former boss was never paid. Kelly was acquitted of charges related to Ghosn’s pay before 2017 because he wasn’t aware of the unreported renumeration, the chief judge determined at his trial.
The verdict from two years ago was a rare partial victory in a country where prosecutors win virtually all court cases. Kelly was left alone to defend himself after Ghosn staged a spectacular escape from Japan, making his way by private jet to Lebanon, where he now resides.
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