Editor? /? Tu Yanping
Design? /? Du? triumphant
Source? /? autonews？ Author? Hans? Gremmel
Kelly wore a dark suit, white shirt and red striped tie in court and a mask to prevent COVID-19 from being infected.
As one of the important figures in Ghosn case, Greg Kelly, former chairman of Nissan (Greg? Kelly) was tried in Japan on September 15. He was accused of helping Ghosn hide tens of millions of dollars in income through deferred compensation, but Americans denied the accusation.
Kelly said that his work in Ghosn's salary and treatment strictly abides by laws and regulations. He also said that Ghosn is an "outstanding executive" and if he stays at Nissan, the company will benefit.
Kelly was arrested in Japan for nearly two years before being tried. He denied that he had broken the law, and said that his actions were only to prevent Ghosn from jumping ship to a competitor within the scope permitted by law. Kelly's 64th birthday is also the day when the trial in Tokyo District Court began.
Kelly said that what he did was in the best interests of Nissan, and he had nothing to do with criminal conspiracy.
The prosecution accused him of planning a plan to help Ghosn hide more than $80 million in salary from fiscal year 20 10 to fiscal year 20 17 through deferred salary, which led to the information not being reported in Nissan's public financial documents. Kelly previously served as Nissan's top human resources manager in the United States, and was later promoted to the company's global board of directors and became Ghosn's right-hand man.
2018165438+10/9. On the day of Ghosn's arrest, Kelly was also in jail, and Nissan internal executives and Japanese prosecutors jointly planned the arrest plan for the two men. Later, with the help of American retired special forces, Ghosn successfully fled to Lebanon at the end of 20 19.
After Ghosn's arrest, Nissan's management was in chaos, and its 20-year alliance with French partner Renault almost broke down. After nearly two years, both companies are trying to restore trust and cooperation, and Nissan may have the biggest operating loss in the current fiscal year.
If convicted, Kelly could face up to ten years in prison in Japan. As a corporate entity, Nissan faces the same charges as Kelly, but its representative and vice president, Manabu? Sakain said in court that Nissan would not defend the prosecution's allegations.
Salary plan?
Prosecutors said Kelly colluded with Ghosn, in fact, hiding more than half of the latter's salary in a plan that delayed part of his salary until Ghosn retired.
It is said that they have been doing this since 20 10, when Japan changed the company's reporting rules and required senior executives with higher salaries to disclose their personal salaries, ranging from 654.38 billion yen (RMB 6.436 million) per year. Ghosn has long been criticized for holding a very high salary in Japan. It is speculated that he wants to hide part of his salary to avoid further scrutiny.
Due to the social isolation measures implemented by the court, only half of the people sat at the trial site. A team of three judges presided over the trial procedure, and Kelly wore headphones to listen to the English translation of the trial. More than 240 people won 19 seats by drawing lots to watch this high-profile trial.
Kelly walked into the court with a serious face. For most of the first day, he sat straight and expressionless, with his wife sitting in the middle of the front row.
Kelly described Nissan's near bankruptcy at the end of last century. It was not until the alliance with Renault and the arrival of Ghosn that the Japanese car company was saved. Ghosn later became the CEO and chairman of Nissan.
Kelly said that Ghosn was an outstanding executive, and when most industry observers thought that Nissan was doomed to failure, Ghosn proved their views wrong.
He said that because Ghosn is a valuable talent, the company hopes to keep Ghosn. At that time, he and former CEO Hiroto (Hiroto? Saikawa), other executives and legal persons inside and outside the company brainstormed on how to keep Ghosn on Nissan's board of directors, but thought that only the compensation plan was legal.
In the statement at the beginning of the trial, the prosecution said that Nissan insiders listed Ghosn's compensation plans, which concealed some funds from the public. These plans include:
Through the Renault-Nissan joint venture in the Netherlands.
Payment through unregistered Nissan subsidiaries
Pay through an external company.
Sell the property to Ghosn at a low price and let him resell it at a profit.
Provide Ghosn with a loan and then waive the repayment obligation in the future.
Ghosn paid after he retired.
On the basis of retirement remuneration, an award named "Thank him for his service to the company" was added.
Another idea is to let Ghosn serve as a consultant for 10 years and pay the fee after leaving the company. The prosecution claimed that all these discussions were completely confidential, and the premise of the discussion was that Ghosn would definitely receive the money.
The prosecution cited a document dated 20 1 1, which stated that Nissan had to pay Ghosn wages higher than the official wages, which was called delayed wages.
The prosecutor said that this behavior of paying Ghosn by deceiving the outside world continued until Ghosn and Kelly were arrested on 20 18 1 1. The prosecution showed evidence and documentary images outlining Ghosn's salary structure on a large wall-mounted TV screen.
protect
Kelly's lawyer argued that the special funds arranged by Nissan for Ghosn did not belong to the plan to provide deferred compensation. Defense lawyers had previously argued that this was a draft law to provide post-retirement compensation, with the purpose of keeping Ghosn as a consultant of the Japanese automaker and preventing Ghosn from joining a competitor's company.
Kelly's lawyer insists that the amount of these wages has never been determined, the agreement has never been finalized, and no money has ever been paid. Therefore, the defense believes that it is not necessary to disclose any information in this regard in the financial report.
In addition, Kelly's lawyer said that Kelly did not participate in many such arrangements. He said that the signatures of many other Nissan executives are on the relevant documents.
A representative of Nissan told the court that Ghosn was worried that his full salary would be criticized by the public after it was made public. A Nissan lawyer said that trying to distinguish between disclosed salary and concealed future salary is good for Ghosn and bad for the company.
Nissan later issued a press release explaining the company's internal investigation into the matter. According to the press release, based on a large number of convincing evidence found in the investigation, Nissan determined that Ghosn and Kelly had serious misconduct and seriously violated the company's ethics. The company will provide evidence on the relevant facts of these misconduct in the trial, and the law will give a ruling.
International support
Some people in the world support Ghosn, the protagonist of this case. Ghosn worked for Nissan in the last few years of his career. Three US senators published a letter of support for Kelly, calling Kelly's situation a "warning" to those Americans working in Japan.
Earlier, the media reported that in order to bring down Ghosn, Nissan executives began to discuss related actions by email one year in advance. Harinada (Harry? Nada) sent an email to several Nissan executives, saying that Nissan needs to take action before it is too late to bring down Ghosn and prevent further integration between Nissan and Renault.
In the end, Nissan executives reached an agreement with Japanese prosecutors to arrest Ghosn and Kelly by using salary issues. Kelly can't leave Japan while being released on bail. She has been living in an apartment in Tokyo, accompanied by his wife. In order to stay in Japan, Kelly's wife studied Japanese on a student visa.
Ghosn was a friendly witness who supported Kelly's defense until he fled Japan. Kelly's wife said outside the court that Ghosn was not here, which was disappointing, but he had to do what was good for him. She also said that their son wanted to come to Japan to support his father during the trial, but he couldn't come because of the epidemic.
Kelly's trial will last until July, 20021,and it is impossible to announce the verdict before next autumn.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.