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TEHRAN, Apr 04-Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn was rearrested early Thursday in Tokyo on fresh financial misconduct allegations, with the auto tycoon slamming his detention as "outrageous and arbitrary."
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The arrest, which legal experts described as highly unusual in Japan for someone who has already been released on bail, marks yet another dramatic moment in the once-feted executive's fall from grace.
Tokyo prosecutors said Ghosn had caused Nissan Motor Co $5 million in losses over a 2-1/2-year period to July 2018, in breach of his legal duties to the company and with the goal of personal gain.
The Kyodo news agency reported that the losses involved the shifting of funds through a dealer in Oman to the account of a company Ghosn effectively owned. The agency did not cite any sources.
"My arrest this morning is outrageous and arbitrary," Ghosn said in a statement emailed by a US-based spokesman.
"It is part of another attempt by some individuals at Nissan to silence me by misleading the prosecutors. Why arrest me except to try to break me? I will not be broken. I am innocent of the groundless charges and accusations against me."
Ghosn was detained at the central Tokyo apartment he has called home since his release on bail, with local media later reporting he had been transferred to the Kosuge detention center.
More than a dozen officials from the Tokyo prosecutor's office visited his residence early on Thursday and asked him to submit to questioning, broadcaster NHK said. A silver van believed to be carrying Ghosn later left the residence, it said.
Footage of the vehicle leaving the residence showed its windows covered with curtains, making it impossible to see who was riding inside.
No one was immediately available for comment at the Tokyo prosecutors' office. Nissan said it could not comment on judicial decisions.
‘Telling the truth’
The former high-flying executive already faces three charges of financial misconduct related to allegations he under-reported his compensation and sought to transfer personal investment losses to Nissan's books.
He has denied any wrongdoing and took to Twitter for the first time Wednesday to announce plans to "tell the truth" at an April 11 news conference.
"After being wrongly imprisoned for 108 days, my biggest hope and wish today is for a fair trial," Ghosn added in the emailed statement.
"I was scheduled to present my story in a press conference next week; by arresting me again, the prosecutors have denied me that opportunity, for now, but I am determined that the truth will come out. I am confident that if tried fairly, I will be vindicated."
Ghosn's lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, called the latest arrest "inappropriate" and said he would hold a media conference in Tokyo later Thursday.
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