This outcome is particularly awaited in Japan and abroad, because it is the first criminal judgment on part of the merits of the sprawling Ghosn case.

It had started in Japan with the sensational arrest in November 2018 of the big boss of the Renault-Nissan alliance, released on bail the following year.

Greg Kelly, former head of legal affairs at Nissan, was arrested the same day as Mr. Ghosn and for the same initial charge: having failed to declare to the Japanese stock market authorities the remuneration that the Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian was to receive subsequently from Nissan.

Like Carlos Ghosn, Greg Kelly, 65, has maintained his innocence from the start.

But while he was in the shadow of his illustrious co-defendant, this calm and discreet American lawyer found himself on the front line since Carlos Ghosn's incredible escape from Japan at the end of 2019.

Cloistered since in Lebanon, which does not extradite its nationals, Mr. Ghosn is beyond the reach of Japanese justice, which also wanted to try him for suspicions of breach of trust, this time only targeting him.

"Weak and restricted file"

"Kelly had been arrested in the hope that he would turn around and testify against Ghosn" but after the latter escaped, "the prosecutors found themselves with a weak and limited case against Kelly", comments for AFP Stephen Givens, a business lawyer in Tokyo who has been following this economic-judicial saga from the start.

The prosecution requested two years in prison against him, accusing him of having helped Mr. Ghosn to conceal from the Japanese stock market authorities 9.1 billion yen (nearly 70 million euros) in remuneration over the period 2010- 2018 that Nissan planned to pay him later.

Carlos Ghosn, during a press conference in Jounieh, on September 29, 2020 in Lebanon ANWAR AMRO AFP / Archives

The actions he carried out with other Nissan officials were aimed at "finding a legal way" to keep Mr. Ghosn in the fold of the group after his retirement, to prevent him from joining a competing company, assured Mr. Kelly during his trial.

Neither the amounts, nor the means of payment nor the timing of these payments were engraved in stone, and therefore Nissan did not need to publish this data, pleaded Yoichi Kitamura, one of Mr. Kelly's lawyers which seeks the acquittal of its client, although this is extremely rare in Japan.

"We will automatically appeal" in the event of a conviction, even a suspended sentence, Mr. Kitamura assured AFP last September.

Prosecutors have requested a symbolic fine of 200 million yen (1.5 million euros) against Nissan, prosecuted as a legal person in this case, and who pleaded guilty.

Asked by AFP, the group did not wish to speak before the verdict.

Suspended sentence?

"An acquittal (of Mr. Kelly, editor's note) would be humiliating for the prosecutors and for Nissan," said Mr. Givens.

"It would undermine the legitimacy of the original case against Mr. Ghosn and bolster his claim that it was a 'palace revolution' carried out by senior Nissan officials with the help of prosecutors," he adds.

Unsurprisingly, Carlos Ghosn defends Greg Kelly, a "victim" according to him.

"If he is guilty, then a lot of Japanese (from Nissan, editor's note) should also be in prison," said Mr. Ghosn during an online press conference at the end of 2021.

Courtroom sketch of American Greg Kelly on the first day of his trial, September 15, 2020 in Tokyo Masato YAMASHITA JIJI PRESS/AFP/Archives

In Japan, the outcome of the trial will also be closely scrutinized because it is "the first time" in the country that a case on the transparency of bosses' remuneration has been brought before a court, Keisuke Matsuoka told AFP. a law professor at Senshu University in Tokyo.

But as Mr. Kelly should not have had the leading role in this trial, "it is difficult to believe that he will receive a severe sentence", according to Mr. Matsuoka.

"The judges face a dilemma (...). An easy compromise would be to declare Mr. Kelly guilty but by matching his sentence with a reprieve", thinks Mr. Givens.

© 2022 AFP