Hide Carlos Ghosn's Salary, Former Nissan Boss Greg Kelly Sentenced To 6 Months

JAKARTA - A Tokyo court on Thursday sentenced former Nissan Motor executive, Greg Kelly, to six months probation for helping conceal the salary of former Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn for eight years.

"The court found that there was unpaid remuneration and failure to disclose the 'whole amount' as well as 'falsified' reporting", Tokyo Chief Justice told Greg Kelly at the hearing.

The judge also blamed Toshiaki Ohnuma, an official who oversaw details of Ghosn's income compensation. However, Ohnuma survived the sentence because he cooperated with the prosecutor to solve the Ghosn case.

"Ohnuma's statement was fraught with danger, but he made a statement that was in line with the wishes of the prosecutor", the judge said.

"There is a danger as an 'accomplice', that he will try to shift the responsibility to Ghosn", he added.

The court also fined Nissan 200 million yen ($1.73 million) for the company's failure to disclose Ghosn's salary, but the Japanese auto giant has pleaded guilty since the start of his trial 18 months ago.

Earlier, Japan's securities watchdog accused Ghosn and Nissan of violating financial instruments laws by reporting Ghosn's payment package was around 9.1 billion yen in the eight years to March 2018.

However, Kelly has denied violating financial laws.

Kelly reasoned that Ghosn received compensation in the form of compensation so that the Lebanese businessman would not move to another company and remain in the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Ghosn fled to Lebanon in December 2019 with the help of a former US military. He was detained at his home in Japan on charges of financial crimes.

Ghosn left Japan on a jet and hid in a box. Ghosn's hometown of Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, so he is still there.