Six months after his arrest, Carlos Ghosn will find, for the first time, this Thursday morning, the prosecutors and his three judges for a formal preliminary hearing to prepare for his future trial. A crucial step in the long legal process that awaits the former boss of Nissan and Renault. “It is possible that these preliminary hearings will last a year or more, perhaps until the spring or summer of 2020,” one of his Japanese lawyers, Takashi Takano, told Les Echos.
So far, prosecutors have only held informal meetings with the defenders of the various indicted parties on the first part of the case, the alleged offenses under the FIEL (Financial Instruments and Exchange Law). ). They accuse Carlos Ghosn of not having declared in the financial reports submitted by Nissan to the Tokyo Stock Exchange deferred remuneration that would have been promised. Suspected of having participated in this concealment, his former lieutenant, Greg Kelly, is being examined for the same offense. Just like Nissan as a moral entity.
A list of proofs
This Thursday, Carlos Ghosn and his counsel will discuss with prosecutors and judges the other two charges “breach of trust”, which concern only the former Franco-Lebanese boss. He is alleged to have illegally “thanked” a Saudi friend, Khaled Al-Juffali, for taking him out of a bad financial spell in the late 2000s and for organizing suspicious transfers through a subsidiary of Nissan and an Omani distributor to a Lebanese company to which he was linked. “But we are not going to get into the file immediately,” says Takashi Takano. “We will first ask the prosecutor to specify his schedule.”
The prosecution has, indeed, already unveiled its list of evidence constituting the indictment on the “Al-Juffali”, but it has still not presented the elements that concern the “Oman-Lebanese” file. “The judge should ask the prosecution to provide us with this evidence,” says the council, which can then better build his defense.
Very important hearings
In Japan, these preliminary hearings, chaired by the three professional judges who will decide in the final trial, are essential to ensure the fluidity of future debates. They allow to study, one by one, the dozens of “proofs” advanced by the prosecution and the elements brought by the defense. In the next few months, lawyers will, among other things, be able to refuse certain documents such as hearing reports in order to compel the prosecutor’s witnesses to come and speak directly to the court. They will also file documents that may exonerate their clients.
During these hearings, which he may choose to attend or not, Carlos Ghosn should not communicate with prosecutors but only with his lawyers. “The atmosphere of these exchanges is very important because it will weigh on the climate of the future trial. It is particularly crucial not to turn the three judges, “says a former indicted.
According to his lawyer, Carlos Ghosn approaches these audiences with fighting spirit but still suffers from very severe conditions of his release on bail. His lawyers have tried, unsuccessfully, in recent days to cancel the ban on communication with his wife Carole, which was imposed by the Tokyo court when he left prison on April 25. “This condition is extremely rare and shocking,” says Takashi Takano, who will now fight for his client to at least talk briefly with his wife, in the presence of a third party.