Jan 09 (NHK) - The defense team for Nissan Motor's former chairman Carlos Ghosn says they are confident that he committed no crimes and there is no reason for his continued detention.
The lawyers have held a news conference after Ghosn appeared in court to hear the reason why he is being detained for nearly 2 months.
It was his first public appearance since his arrest.
The judge explained Ghosn is being detained because there's a risk that evidence could be destroyed, and that he could try to flee.
The lawyers say prosecutors arrested him without carefully examining all of the evidence.
During the court hearing, Ghosn professed that all the allegations of financial wrongdoing against him are baseless.
Ghosn has been indicted for allegedly underreporting his income by tens of millions of dollars.
He is also suspected of temporarily shifting foreign exchange contracts onto Nissan after suffering a huge loss from personal investment.
But Ghosn said those contracts were transferred back to him without Nissan incurring any loss.
Ghosn is also accused of transferring about 15 million dollars from a Nissan subsidiary to a firm run by a Saudi businessman. Prosecutors believe the man had previously helped Ghosn when he was facing financial difficulties.
Ghosn said the payment was legitimate compensation for services for Nissan that included help with solving disputes.
Source: ANNnewsCH
