Carlos Ghosn’s new lead defense lawyer yesterday said that his “convincing” new bail application for the former Nissan Motor Co chairman contained fresh elements he hoped would lead to his release “as soon as possible.”
Junichiro Hironaka, who has a reputation for securing acquittals for high-profile clients in a country where 99 percent of cases result in conviction, said there was a “realistic” chance of Ghosn eventually being found innocent of all charges.
Hironaka, known as the “acquitter” or the “razor” for his mental sharpness, unveiled a third application for bail on Thursday after two unsuccessful attempts by the tycoon’s previous legal team.
The new application included “further measures” — such as limiting Ghosn’s external communications and bolstering surveillance — that gave him grounds to hope for a better result, Hironaka told reporters.
The Tokyo District Court has shown little inclination to end Ghosn’s lengthy pre-trial detention, which has drawn criticism internationally and from rights groups.
Ghosn faces three charges of financial misconduct, two involving alleged under-reporting of his salary and a third over a complex scheme in which he allegedly sought to transfer his losses to Nissan’s books.
Ghosn has denied all the allegations against him, and in an interview with reporters slammed his continued detention.
“Why am I being punished before being found guilty?” Ghosn asked, adding that such a situation “would not be normal in any other democracy.”
Hironaka took over after Ghosn’s previous legal team stepped aside and said he would be approaching the case with a “completely new strategy.”
He also raised questions as to why Nissan brought the case to prosecutors over incidents that allegedly took place more than 10 years ago.
Given the number of people involved in the complex case, Hironaka said it would continue over a “very long time span,” but he said prosecutors had begun handing over some of their evidence prior to a potential trial.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group