Ex-Nissan exec Kelly wants boardroom, not criminal, trial

Nearly three years later, former Nissan executive Greg Kelly is still wondering why the questions that led to his arrest and trial in Japan weren’t simply taken up in the automaker's corporate boardroom

TOKYO -- Nearly three years later, former Nissan executive Greg Kelly is still wondering why the questions that led to his arrest and trial in Japan weren’t simply taken up in the automaker's corporate boardroom. Kelly, an American lawyer who worked for three decades for Nissan Motor Co., is awaiting a verdict in his trial on charges of financial misconduct in the case of Carlos Ghosn. The embattled former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance jumped bail and fled to Lebanon in late 2019, leaving Kelly in Japan alone to face charges of Ghosn’s under-reported Nissan compensation. Kelly has denied the allegations. “I don’t think any of us were involved in a crime, or a criminal activity," Kelly told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in his Tokyo apartment, where he is out on bail. “We were involved in trying to solve a business problem, which was: What actions do you take that are lawful to retain a very valuable executive who was underpaid?” Kelly added, referring to Ghosn.