It
was worldwide news when Carlos Ghosn, former chairman and CEO of
Nissan, took a daring, overnight flight from Tokyo to Beirut last
December and became an international
fugitive rather than face what he called the injustice of the Japanese
legal system.
Less
attention has been given to the ongoing tragedy of Mr. Ghosn’s former
deputy, an American named Greg Kelly, who was arrested in November 2018
in connection with alleged
fraud and financial wrongdoing at Nissan.
Mr.
Ghosn, a Lebanese mogul who turned the flagging Nissan company into an
international auto powerhouse, is accused of secretly arranging to
receive millions of dollars,
allegedly with Mr. Kelly’s help. Mr. Kelly, like Mr. Ghosn, vehemently
denies the allegations. Mr. Kelly, who expected to be tried alongside
Mr. Ghosn, was released from jail on Christmas Day 2018, but he is still
waiting for a trial date.
Last
April, more than 1,000 Japanese academics and lawyers signed a letter
written and circulated by Human Rights Watch criticizing Japan’s
hitojichi-shiho, or “hostage
justice,” system. A number of Americans know this all too well. Mr.
Kelly is now its leading example.
His
predicament is a cautionary tale for Americans thinking about working
in Japan, raising serious questions about whether non-Japanese
executives can comfortably work
in Japan under its legal system.
Mr.
Kelly, who lived in both Japan and Tennessee as a Nissan executive, was
a respected and loyal Nissan employee who joined the company in 1988.
He rose steadily in the
company and in June 2012 became the first American to join Nissan’s
board. But shortly before Thanksgiving 2018, Mr. Kelly’s decades-long
career at the automaker came to a crashing halt. That’s when Nissan
executives “lured” Mr. Kelly from Tennessee back to
Japan, where they launched a “boardroom coup” and had him arrested upon
his arrival, according to Dee Kelly, his wife.
Mr.
Kelly was kept in solitary confinement for five weeks without a bed or,
initially, a pillow, she said. He suffered chronic neck pain and was
scheduled to undergo surgery
in Tennessee right before he was lured back to Japan, his wife said. He
was eventually permitted to have surgery in Japan, but Dee Kelly said
the delay and the conditions of his incarceration caused his health to
deteriorate and the surgery did not relieve
his symptoms.
Mr.
Kelly, who currently spends his time in Tokyo preparing for his court
case, said that during most of his confinement, he was interrogated for
several hours a day without
legal counsel present. In addition, as reported by the New York Times,
Japanese officials have refused to allow him and his lawyers electronic
access to documents they plan to use in his case.
Japanese
prosecutors have charged only foreign defendants — Mr. Ghosn and Mr.
Kelly — in the case. However, in a June 2019 interview with the Japanese
magazine “Bungei Shunju,”
Mr. Kelly said that Hiroto Saikawa, who was appointed Nissan’s chief
executive following Mr. Ghosn’s arrest, approved the compensation plans
that led to the arrests.
In
June 2019 article in Forbes, Mr. Kelly said, “How come Ghosn and I were
suddenly arrested without one instance of being asked to explain and no
discussions or meeting
on the subject?” In September 2019, Mr. Saikawa resigned as Nissan’s
CEO after it was widely reported that he admitted inflating his
compensation by changing the date when he could cash in company stock.
Mr.
Kelly's legal battle is made tougher by Japan’s alarmingly high
conviction rate and because the chief witness in his case, Mr. Ghosn,
has fled to Lebanon and is not
available to testify.
Despite
all of this, Mr. Kelly has said, “I am very proud to have worked for
this amazing company, Nissan, for over 30 years. It has been an honor.”
The
states we represent in the U.S. Senate have greatly benefitted from the
U.S.-Japan relationship and we want to see that partnership
strengthened, not weakened. Our concern
is expressed as longtime friends of Japan.
Each
of us remembers what Mike Mansfield, former U.S. ambassador to Japan,
always said: “The U.S.-Japan relationship is the most important
bilateral relationship in the
world, bar none.” If Americans and other non-Japanese executives
question their ability to be treated fairly in Japan, then that most
important bilateral relationship in the world is at risk.
Sen. Roger Wicker is from Mississippi. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn represent Tennessee. All are Republicans.
https://www.realclearpolitics.
8 comments:
Send some more bombs their way.
do you mean to tell me this guy got out pretrial on a bond and then WENT BACK to japan so as to prepare and go to trial?
what a dumbass.
I've attempting to share the following info on several relevant occasions, but I'm always denied. Maybe it sill be relevant today.
Japan, like the USA, maintains the death penalty. Their sole method is execution by hanging.
He was so scared that he ran away like a filthy gaijin piggu with no honor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Japan
I guess I care a little about this story? I dunno, seems pretty low on my priority list. I am shocked someone twisted the arm of Roger Wicker enough for him to release this.
@12:34 here.
I was mistaking Kelly for Carlos Ghosn who snuck out of Japan smuggled in luggage on a private jet.
Meanwhile; Gerrard Gibberto will be hosting the JT show tomorrow. Let's talk REAL news!
Remind em' about Fat Man and Little Boy.
That got their Emperor's attention.
@5:27
Pure genius. We also have to make them leave all of their factories here in the USA and make sure the Bank of Japan continues to buy our worthless treasuries too.
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