Greg Kelly, a former Nissan CEO, is given a six-month suspended prison sentence in Japan. That reports Automotive News†In addition to the penalty for Kelly, Nissan itself will also receive a hefty fine.
The punishment for Kelly is quite mild. Japanese prosecutors initially demanded two years in prison against Kelly, but the judge did not agree. Kelly was found guilty of part of the charge, namely helping former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn to hide part of his salary in accounting. According to the judge, however, he only did this in one financial year in the period from 2010 to 2018, the time frame in which Ghosn would have earned more than was known to the tax authorities. Kelly will receive a suspended six-month prison sentence, which means that the American can return to his home country after three years.
Nissan will also receive a penalty separately from Kelly for the lack of control over the financial administration. The car manufacturer has to pay a fine of 200 million yen, converted more than €1.5 million, to the Japanese state.
Ghosn, meanwhile, is still a fugitive. In 2019, he spectacularly fled to Lebanon, where he is still hiding today. The former CEO, who has Lebanese, French and Brazilian nationality, claimed that he would not receive a fair trial in Japan.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl