On Thursday, a Tokyo court sentenced Nissan Motor executive Greg Kelly to a six-month suspended sentence for allegedly assisting Carlos Ghosn in concealing his pay from financial regulators, but also blamed a key prosecution witness for his role in the alleged failure to disclose $80 million in income over an eight-year period.
The top judge told Kelly in court that the court deems the "existence of unpaid remuneration" and the refusal to reveal "the grand total" amounted to "false" reporting.
Toshiaki Ohnuma, an officer in charge of Ghosn's salary, was also chastised by the judge, who evaded charges in exchange for collaborating with prosecutors.
"Ohnuma's statement is filled with risk," the judge stated, implying that he was making remarks in accordance with the prosecutors' wishes.
"As an accomplice, there was a risk that he would try to shift blame on Ghosn," he added.
Nissan was also penalized 200 million yen ($1.73 million) by the court for failing to disclose Ghosn's compensation. At the start of the trial 18 months ago, Japan's No. 3 automaker pleaded guilty.
The verdict, which came more than three years after Kelly and Ghosn were arrested, may be the closest a Japanese court has come to deciding on Kelly's guilt.
After fleeing to Lebanon in 2019 in a box on a private jet, Ghosn is beyond the reach of Japanese prosecutors.
The allegations stemmed from a 2010 change in finance regulations that obliged executives earning more than 1 billion yen ($8.71 million) to report their remuneration.
Kelly said that his only intention was to provide Ghosn, who was also the CEO of Renault at the time, with a remuneration package that would deter him from defecting to a competing carmaker.
Kelly will be permitted to leave Japan for the first time since his arrest unless prosecutors, who had requested a two-year prison sentence, file an appeal.
"This chapter of the Kelly family's life has come to an end after three difficult years," Rahm Emmanuel, the United States' ambassador to Japan, said in a statement.
For the time being, Ghosn is stranded in Lebanon, unable to move outside of the country without fearing arrest and deportation to Japan.
Ghosn is accused of benefiting himself at the expense of his employer by paying $5 million to a Middle Eastern car dealership and temporarily moving personal investment losses to his former employer's books, in addition to concealing his earnings.
Ghosn has disputed all of the allegations leveled against him.
