Carlos Ghosn’s new legal team applies for bail

Carlos Ghosn’s new legal team has applied for bail for the former Nissan Motor chairman, the Tokyo District Court stated on Thursday, the recent attempt after a number of requests were rejected by judges citing Ghosn being a flight risk.

Ghosn was arrested in November due to alleged financial misconduct and is still in detention in a Tokyo jail. Previously this month, he selected a new team with long-time defense attorney Junichiro Hironaka as a key member to replace Motonari Otsuru, a lawyer who once ran the prosecutor’s office probing him.

Hironaka’s combative style contradicts the low-key approach adopted by the media-shy Otsuru.

During his first news conference last week, Hironaka – nicknamed “the Razor” – rejected the charges against Ghosn as an internal company matter and stated Japan was out of step with global norms by keeping his client in jail.

Ghosn changed his legal strategy after his efforts to win bail failed, regardless of vows to remain in Japan should bail be granted.

The switch also came right before lawyers were going to sit down with prosecutors and judges for the first time to hash out a plan for pre-trial discovery meetings, where prosecutors will show proofs and submit a list of witnesses.