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Nissan ex-chief Carlos Ghosn cancels hastily arranged Tokyo press conference

TOKYO — Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on Friday abruptly canceled plans for what would have been his first press conference since his arrest in November, after journalists had been notified about a briefing just two hours earlier. Ghosn's lawyers called to cancel the event that was to be held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), but did not immediately give a reason for the abrupt change, an official at the FCCJ told Reuters.Automotive News cited a source as saying his family and media team staged a "last-minute intervention" to get him to call off plans to make his case at the press conference, fearing he would be faced with questions he couldn't answer without tipping his legal team's strategy, or that Japanese prosecutors would take a dim view of him publicly criticizing their actions and attempt to revoke his bail. A spokesman for the Ghosn family in Tokyo did not answer his mobile phone and did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. If the conference had not been canceled, Ghosn would have spoken as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosts national leaders at the G20 leaders gathering in Osaka, including U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who Ghosn's wife Carole have called on to raise the issue of her husband's treatment by Japan's courts. In May a Japanese court dismissed an appeal by Ghosn to ease a bail restriction that bans him from contacting his wife and rejected a subsequent request to allow him a one-off monitored meeting with Carole. His lawyers have argued that that condition violates Japan's constitution and international law on family separations. Ghosn's movements are also monitored and he is only allowed internet access from a computer at his lawyer's office that records the activity for the court. Once among the world's most feted auto executives, Ghosn is awaiting trial in Japan over charges including enriching himself at a cost of $5 million to Nissan, in a scandal which has rocked the industry and exposed tensions in the automaking partnership between Nissan and Renault SA. Since his initial arrest in November last year, Ghosn has been charged four times for crimes which also include underreporting his Nissan salary and temporarily transferring personal financial losses to his employer's books during his time at the helm of Japan's No. 2 automaker.

Nissan's Carlos Ghosn taps the brakes on autonomous car progress

"Self-driving cars remain a long way from commercial reality."
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn shocked the automotive industry last year when he announced that his company plans to offer consumers an autonomous car by 2020. The automaker even showed off its self-driving Leaf prototype as proof. He was bolder recently with the pronouncement that select markets could have them in 2018, if laws allowed. The boss' optimism appears to be waning, though, and he's now sounding a lot more conservative about the future. While driverless vehicles are still on the way, Ghosn is hedging his bets with a more gradual implementation of several systems.

Carlos Ghosn freed from jail after four months

TOKYO — Wearing a mask, cap and what looked like a construction worker's outfit, the former chairman of Nissan Motor Co., Carlos Ghosn, left a Tokyo detention center Wednesday after posting 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) bail. Although his face was obscured as he left the facility, Ghosn's identity was apparent as he smiled after arriving at a building in downtown Tokyo, having removed his jacket, mask and hat. There was a scramble by media to follow Ghosn after he boarded a small Suzuki van, topped with a ladder, and traveled from the Tokyo Detention Center toward downtown. Motorcycles trailed the van in formation as it passed through city streets to one of the defense lawyer's offices. Ghosn later left in another car, which was mobbed by media. Ghosn, the former head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors alliance was arrested on Nov. 19. He is charged with falsifying financial reports and with breach of trust. The Tokyo District Court confirmed the 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) bail was posted earlier in the day, after a judge rejected an appeal from prosecutors requesting his continued detention. That cleared the way for Ghosn to leave the facility after spending nearly four months since his arrest. Before his release, Ghosn, who turns 65 on Saturday, issued a statement reasserting his innocence. "I am innocent and totally committed to vigorously defending myself in a fair trial against these meritless and unsubstantiated accusations," he said. A date for his trial has not yet been set. Suspects in Japan often are detained for months, especially those who insist on their innocence, like Ghosn. Some legal experts, including Junichiro Hironaka, one of his lawyers, have criticized the system as "hostage justice," saying the long detentions tend to encourage false confessions. Ghosn's lawyer in France, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, said the lawyers in Japan will be leading the defense but he was in touch with them. "He is catching his breath and settling in," Le Borgne said of Ghosn. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said a presumption of innocence for Ghosn was crucial, while noting the importance to France of the alliance between Nissan and French automaker Renault SA. "It is a good thing that Carlos Ghosn can defend himself freely and serenely, and his release will permit Carlos Ghosn to defend himself freely and serenely," he said. The French government owns about 15 percent of Renault SA, making it an influential voice in the future of the alliance.