The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office had repeatedly warned the Tokyo District Court that a bail bond of only several billion yen would not stop former Nissan Motor Co. boss Carlos Ghosn from fleeing, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Ghosn, 65, who has been accused of violating the Companies Law among other charges, was released on bail after paying a bond set at 1.5 billion yen in total.
Despite repeated warnings from the prosecutors' office before Ghosn's release on bail last year, the former Nissan chairman's escape from Japan to Lebanon could not be prevented.
Courts usually set the bail bond amount to be paid for a defendant to be released. The money is forfeited if a defendant escapes. The bond amount is calculated according to the defendant's assets from the viewpoint of whether the amount would be enough to prevent a defendant from escaping or destroying evidence.
In January last year, Ghosn repeatedly requested bail after he was indicted on charges of financial misconduct. The prosecutors objected, saying, "If released on bail, Ghosn would be highly likely to flee overseas or destroy evidence."
The defendant suggested the bond be set at several hundred million yen because he "had little cash on hand," according to sources.
The district prosecutors estimated his assets to be at least tens of billions of yen in cash and securities and had told the court that it would be impossible to prevent Ghosn from fleeing if the bail bond was set too low.
But on March 5, 2019, the district court granted bail with a bond set at 1 billion yen after receiving the third request from Ghosn. The defendant was released on bail the next day.
In April, the defendant was again arrested and charged in the case of aggravated breach of trust involving a Nissan-affiliated dealership in Oman, but was released on bail shortly after. At that time, the prosecutors insisted that the amount of bail bond was too small, and the district court set an additional 500 million yen.
On Dec. 29, 2019, Ghosn broke one of the bail conditions of ban on traveling abroad. He is believed to have used a private jet to escape with the help of former members of the U.S. Army Special Forces known as Green Berets. Overseas media reported that it cost between several million dollars (several hundred million yen) and more than 20 million dollars (about 2.2 billion yen) to flee, and Ghosn is suspected of making the escape using his abundant assets.
The district court decided to confiscate money dating back before date, but several senior
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