Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn hit with fresh charge

The former chairman of Nissan Motor Co, Carlos Ghosn, had a fourth formal indictment brought against him on Monday, the day his current detention period was set to expire, a Tokyo court said.

The charge means Ghosn will remain in custody pending a bail attempt now filed by his legal team. Under the terms of his detention, Ghosn had to be either indicted or released on Monday.

The auto sector tycoon was arrested earlier this month for a fourth time on allegations that he had siphoned off $5 million (€4.45 million) in company money for his own use. He already faces three other charges related to an alleged understatement of his income and the alleged transferral of personal investment losses to Nissan.

Ghosn, 65, has denied all allegations and said he is the victim of a board room plot hatched by executives worried about his plans for closer ties between the Japanese carmaker and its French partner, Renault.

Read more: Who's the man who could bring down Japan's auto industry? 

Fair-trial concerns

He has already been granted bail once before, to the tune of $9 million, being released last month under strict surveillance conditions after spending 108 days in jail.

Ghosn's lawyers have voiced concerns that he will not face a fair trial in view of the fact that trials under Japan's justice system result in convictions in 99% of cases.

His wife, Carole Ghosn, who has herself faced questioning by prosecutors in Tokyo, has said she is worried about her husband's health in detention. Ghosn has described conditions in the Japanese jail as being such that he would not wish them on his "worst enemy."

Ghosn, who has been credited with saving Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy 20 years ago, has been removed from all his positions at Nissan, Renault and an alliance of those two companies with Mitsubishi Motors.

tj/sms (Reuters, AFP)

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