TOKYO: Lawyers for former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday they asked a Tokyo court that he stand trial for alleged financial wrongdoing separately from Nissan because the company is helping prosecutors.
Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo in November after Nissan told prosecutors its own internal investigation uncovered evidence of serious wrongdoing by him. The Japanese automaker subsequently ousted Ghosn as chairman.
He faces criminal charges in Japan over failing to report around $82 million in salary from Nissan, and for temporarily transferring personal financial losses onto Nissan鈥檚 books during the global financial crisis.
Along with Ghosn and Greg Kelly, a close Ghosn associate who served as a director on Nissan鈥檚 board, prosecutors have also indicted the company itself for making false disclosures in annual securities reports, for which it has expressed regret.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ghosn鈥檚 lawyers also asked that he stand trial separately from Kelly, who was charged with conspiring to under-report Ghosn鈥檚 income. Both Ghosn and Kelly have denied the charges.
The lawyers鈥� statement did not say why Ghosn did not want to be tried alongside Kelly. Ghosn鈥檚 lawyers were not immediately available for further comment. Kelly鈥檚 lawyer was also not immediately available for comment.