Carlos Ghosn can be held in jail until Jan. 11
Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn can be held in jail without the possibility of bail until Jan. 11, a Tokyo court said Monday.
That lengthens his detention that has gone on for a month and a half, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The court ruling follows Japanese prosecutors’ third arrest of Ghosn, in a continuing investigation of alleged wrongdoing during his time at Nissan.
In Japan, each arrest allows prosecutors to keep suspects detained for up to 22 days without bail, if the court approves an extension midway.
In the recent arrest, on Dec. 21, prosecutors said they suspected Ghosn temporarily shifted private losses to the company in October 2008, then had Nissan pay a total of $14.7 million to a person who helped him handle those losses.
Ghosn maintains that Nissan ultimately didn’t suffer any losses from the temporary transfer since he later took the transaction back onto his own books, and that the $14.7 million in payments were for legitimate Nissan business purposes, according to a person familiar with his defense.
Ghosn was first arrested on Nov. 19 and later charged with understating compensation on corporate filings over a five-year period ending March 2015.
Lengthy detentions without bail allow investigators to question suspects intensively about their alleged misdeeds, lawyers say, helping to bring about Japan’s conviction rate of more than 95% for people who are charged with crimes.