Japan’s Justice Minister Vows She’ll Never Give Up On Bringing Ghosn to Trial
Japan Justice Minister Vows She’ll Never Give Up On Bringing Ghosn to Trial
(Bloomberg) -- Justice Minister Masako Mori said she would never give up on bringing former Nissan Motor Co. chief Carlos Ghosn to trial in Japan, despite being a one-time admirer of the fallen auto titan.
More than a month after Ghosn skipped bail and fled to Lebanon, there’s no sign that Japan has made any progress toward having him return to face justice in Tokyo on charges including financial crimes and leaving the country illegally. “I say I will never give up,” Mori said in an interview Friday at the Justice Ministry.
Mori declined to comment on a report that Lebanon had already refused to extradite him, saying it was a diplomatic matter. Lebanon has no extradition treaty with Japan.
Ghosn, 65, fled to Lebanon in December in a spectacular escape in which he was packed into a box and smuggled onto a private jet. He has since accused Nissan executives of plotting with Japanese prosecutors to have him unjustly arrested.
Mori has been at the forefront of efforts to defend the country’s justice system, holding a series of news conferences as details of the case emerged. At one point, she came under fire for saying Ghosn should “prove his innocence” -- she later apologized and withdrew the comment.
“The Justice Minister doesn’t comment on individual cases, but I thought this was no longer an individual case,” she said. “Carlos Ghosn is a famous person, and he not only made excuses about his own case, but he attacked the whole Japanese justice system.”
Ghosn and others have criticized Japan for policies such as allowing long detentions without charge, keeping defense lawyers out of questioning sessions and using other methods of coercion that have led the country to having an almost 100% conviction rate. Polls show that the Japanese public hasn’t been convinced by Ghosn’s arguments.
Mori defended the system as “not markedly inferior to those in the U.S. and Europe.” She said it was wrong to pick on particular stages of the process, without taking into account the whole picture.
Japan’s high conviction rate resulted from prosecutors deciding against indictments in most cases, Mori said. The country’s low crime rate is an indicator of overall success, she added.
Mori reiterated that Japan had already carried out reforms to its justice system, including allowing the recording of interrogations, and said the country would continue to consider whether other changes were needed.
“I have no intention of saying the Japanese legal system is perfect,” Mori said. “If we receive criticisms that we think are valid, of course we will rectify things.”
Mori, who hails from Iwaki in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, said Ghosn had done “wonderful work” as a manager. The region was grateful for his visit shortly after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, during which he pledged to rebuild a Nissan factory in the city, she said.
Ghosn’s flight without trial was extremely regrettable, Mori said, and would be treated as a crime in any country. She added that Japan’s justice system treated all defendants, including foreigners, equally.
“Whoever they are – the CEO of a major company or not -- there is no discrimination,” she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net;Emi Nobuhiro in Tokyo at enobuhiro@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Jon Herskovitz, Muneeza Naqvi
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.