Ex-Ghosn Aide TO Return To U.S. After Tokyo Court Suspends His Sentence

A Tokyo court on Thursday handed former Nissan Motor executive Greg Kelly a six-month suspended sentence for aiding Carlos Ghosn to hide pay from regulators, paving the way for the US lawyer to return home after more than three years in Japan, Tim Kelly and Satoshi Sugiyama reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Both Kelly and Ghosn - who fled to Lebanon in 2019 hidden in a box on a private jet - allege they are victims of a boardroom coup by former colleagues.

The verdict draws a line under a case that threatened to strain relations between Japan and the US, its closest ally, over the Japanese justice system's treatment of Kelly who was arrested alongside the former Nissan boss.

"The court finds the existence of unpaid remuneration" and the failure to disclose amounted to "false" reporting, the chief judge Kenji Shimotsu said, telling Kelly he was responsible for one of the eight years included in the charges.

"I was shocked by the judgment," Kelly said in a statement after the ruling. "The court found me mostly innocent, but I do not understand why it said I was guilty for one of the years," he added. His lawyers said they will appeal the conviction, which Kelly should be able to do from the US.

Both Kelly and Ghosn - who fled to Lebanon in 2019 hidden in a box on a private jet - allege they are victims of a boardroom coup by former colleagues worried that Ghosn wanted to merge Nissan with alliance partner and largest shareholder Renault SA.

In a pointed criticism of the prosecutors, the ruling also pinned blame on Ghosn's alleged failure to disclose $80 million of income over eight years on Toshiaki Ohnuma, a Nissan official overseeing compensation, who was given legal immunity in return for testimony implicating Kelly.

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