Tokyo (AFP)

Fired a year ago in the nets of Japanese prosecutors, the former boss of Nissan adored Carlos Ghosn insists he is the victim of a machination fabricated from scratch, a line of defense that divides the lawyers.

The former boss Almighty Alliance Renault-Nissan, which he was the craftsman from 1999, was arrested on November 19, 2018 while landing in Tokyo.

Released on bail after 130 days in detention, he is charged with four indictments: two for failure to report deferred remuneration to the stock exchange authorities, and two others for aggravated breach of trust. He incurs up to 15 years in prison.

The deposed boss, under house arrest in Tokyo pending his trial, denies everything in block.

On the merits of the case, he argues about his retribution that Nissan had not promised him contractually a fixed amount of post-retirement compensation.

"The obligation to declare deferred income is legally questionable and in any case it should not have led to arrest," Judge Nobuo Gohara, a Japanese lawyer not involved in the case but who analyzed from the beginning, and whose reasoning is close to that of the principal defenders of Mr. Ghosn.

- "This case should never have existed" -

"From the point of view of Nissan shareholders, failure to retranscribe the exact amounts of executive compensation, even if deferred, distorts their vision of the company and their investment decisions. This was the key point, "said lawyer Yasuyuki Takai, a former inspector of the Special Investigation Unit of the Tokyo Prosecutor's Office.

With regard to the breach of trust, Mr. Ghosn assures that the funds paid by Nissan to car dealers in Oman and Saudi Arabia were paid with the consent of other group managers and for services actually provided for the benefit of the company. from Nissan.

He swears it was not about rewarding friends or getting disguised back commissions from them, as the investigators claim.

"The question is: are the payments made legitimate or not, and if the company judged they were, there is no crime," thinks Gohara.

"But if, as prosecutors say, there is evidence of a prior agreement between Mr. Ghosn and these distributors, it is," Takai says.

Still, Ghosn and his lawyers are convinced that the lawsuits against their client are based on "collusion between Nissan and prosecutors", with the blessing of the Japanese government, in order to kill a project in the bud. merger of Renault and Nissan.

"The case Ghosn was a huge global shock that reveals very big problems in the operation of the Japanese justice", abounds Mr. Gohara.

"This case should never have existed, we can only think that the ultimate goal was to stop Carlos Ghosn," he sliced.

- Little odds -

The motion for a nullity filed on October 24 with the court allows the defense to denounce acts of procedure that it considers illegal: seizure of the phones of the wife of Mr. Ghosn, searches carried out by lawyers of Nissan in private homes etc.

But the chances of success of this method are tiny: "there are no precedents and Japanese courts are very reluctant to accept this type of arguments," admits Takashi Takano, one of Japan's lawyers, Mr Ghosn.

"The real purpose of the lawyers is to get the acquittal." This claim of nullity has no chance of succeeding.This only serves to appease the accused and to say publicly that they believe the prosecutors and Nissan did horrible things, "said Takai.

Still, beyond the theory of the "coup d'etat" intended to drive him out of Nissan, Ghosn's defense has so far not drawn any very strong counter-arguments to dismantle the accusation. to prove his innocence.

Meanwhile, his lawyers also reiterate their requests so that he can see his wife Carole, with whom he has no right to contact since April. In vain so far.

"I hope" that the judges will change their minds before the end of year holidays, Mr. Takano blows.

© 2019 AFP