INT'L BIZ
GREG KELLY PROTESTS CRIMINAL TRIAL, TERMS IT VAGUE
E
ven as almost three years elapsed, the ex-executive of Nissan, Greg Kelly, still seems to be speculating if the reason behind his arrest and criminal trial in Japan were not simply taken up in the corporate boardroom of Automaker. An American lawyer, Kelly, who worked for over thirty years for Nissan Motor Corporate, is awaiting a verdict in his trial on charges of financial delinquency in the case of Carlos Ghosn. The beleaguered exchairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi association escaped bail and fled to Lebanon in late 2019, leaving Kelly in Japan alone to face charges of Ghosn’s under-reported Nissan compensation. However, all allegations were denied by Kelly.
week. After landing in Japan, he got in a van. The driver asked if he could pull over and make a call. All of sudden the van door opened, and several men rushed in, identifying themselves as prosecutors and a translator. Kelly was taken to a detention center, handcuffed and searched, then led to an interrogation room, and questioned by prosecutors, initially without a lawyer present. “It was a shock,” he said. He was kept in solitary confinement for 35 days and interrogated daily. He was confused. He could not call his wife. He pleaded to be allowed to get help from Nissan. He was not at all aware whether Nissan was behind his
During an exclusive interview with the media on August 19, 2021, at his Tokyo based residence, where he was granted bail, Kelly he never thought any of them were indulged in a crime any criminal activity. Referring to Ghosn, Kelly said, “We only tried to solve a business problem that was the way of lawful actions you take to keep a very valuable executive that were underpaid per the company rules”. Kelly, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted and is forbidden from leaving Japan as he awaits his fate, further said, “It should have been resolved at the corporate level at Nissan. It’s not a criminal matter”. A verdict is not expected until March. More than 99 per cent of Japanese criminal trials result in convictions. Behind him, the walls of the apartment Kelly shares with his wife, Dee, were plastered with photos of his two grandsons, including a 20-month-old baby he has never held. Family is most important, the 64-year-old Kelly said, especially this late in life. Kelly said that as one enters into his or her sixties (60s), he or she never looks at a long horizon,. “Every day that you miss with your family, you know, that to me is the stress. In order to spend 33 months without my family, just for a corporate matter, it does not just make a lot of sense. Kelly was working for Nissan but living in the Nashville area of Tennessee when he was asked to come to Japan for a meeting in November 2018. Since he was scheduled for neck fusion surgery to address a painful spinal condition he suggested a video conference. But Nissan booked a corporate jet for him, promising he would be back within the
60
DAWN
September 2021
Since he was scheduled for neck fusion surgery to address a painful spinal condition he suggested a video conference. But Nissan booked a corporate jet for him, promising he would be back within the week. After landing in Japan, he got in a van
arrest. In order to pass the time as he awaits a verdict, Kelly takes long walks with his wife, who moved to Japan in January 2019 on a student visa, taking Japanese language courses to be near her husband. Kelly says he is lucky to have Dee, his college sweetheart from their days at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. She was at his trial, giving her husband a thumbs-up as he walked into the courtroom with his lawyers. Sitting in the front row, she took copious notes since court transcripts are only in Japanese. Dee Kelly said she was taking a walk near the couple’s home in November 2018, when she heard a radio report about the arrest of Ghosn and an
