Carlos Ghosn left prison on a $9 million bail on Wednesday, slipping past a throng of reporters in a blue cap and surgical mask.
Ousted Nissan Motor boss Carlos Ghosn left prison on a $9 million bail on Wednesday, slipping past a throng of reporters in a blue cap and surgical mask, after vowing to mount a defence against financial misconduct charges that he has called « meritless. »
Surrounded by security guards and dressed in a workman’s uniform and glasses, Ghosn was virtually unrecognizable from his usual suited self as he left Tokyo Detention House, where he was confined to a small cell with no heating for more than 100 days.
The once-feted executive got into a small workvan parked just off the facility’s front entrance. Public broadcaster NHK later showed the vehicle exiting the facility grounds, where hundreds of journalists, photographers, and TV crews have been camped, some even overnight.
Ghosn paid the 1 billion yen ($9 million) bail, among the highest ever in Japan, after the Tokyo District Court rejected a last-ditch appeal by prosecutors to keep him in jail.
Ghosn, also the former chairman of Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, has agreed to strict bail conditions and given assurances that he will remain in Tokyo, surrender his passport to his lawyer and submit to extensive surveillance.
