TOKYO – The chief lawyer for Greg Kelly, an American on trial in Japan on charges of under-reporting Nissan former Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s compensation, says his client was merely trying to prevent Ghosn from going to a rival automaker. “Greg has no motive at all to commit such a crime,” Yoichi Kitamura said Friday at his Tokyo office.
At the time, Kelly, then a Nissan executive vice president, was making good money, had a successful career and moreover, was a lawyer. “He talks like a lawyer, and he thinks like a lawyer,” Kitamura said. “He wouldn’t do anything wrong or illegal.” Kelly and Ghosn were arrested in late 2018 and are the only Nissan officials who were charged.