The warnings didn`t just come from other law firms. Megumi Yamamuro, a former judge hired by Nissan`s legal department in 2019 to advise on criminal proceedings, told the automaker`s lawyers that, given the company`s conflicts of interest, he was shocked by Latham & Watkins` involvement in the Ghosn and Kelly investigation, according to a summary of a July 2019 meeting between Yamamuro, Passi and Nissan`s lawyers. But Ghosn has not forgotten this, and the criminal case in Lebanon filed by Ghosn`s lawyers shortly after his arrest remains active and is part of his global legal strategy to erase his name. The case remained stalled in a Lebanese court, in part because of insufficient evidence. Ghosn was in solitary confinement, solitary confinement and could not tell his lawyers what kind of documents had been taken. TOKYO – Nearly four years after Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested at a Tokyo airport, bitterness and legal battles continue to simmer as the automakers he once led struggle to recover from the chaos. Despite what Passi, who told Nada, cites his deeply contradictory position, Latham & Watkins remains Nissan`s top legal counsel as the automaker continues to face the consequences of Ghosn`s fate — even in court. Part 2, which focuses on the legal aspects of the case, was released on May 14 In December 2019, Mr. Ghosn fled Japan to Lebanon to escape what he called an unfair Japanese legal system, leaving Mr. Kelly behind to deal with what many saw as a proxy lawsuit against Nissan`s former High-Flying boss. The increase is $18 million each, plus $4 million each for legal fees.
Ghosn faced an additional claim from the Japan Financial Services Agency to cover Nissan`s penalty. “Nissan`s internal investigation, conducted with Latham & Watkins, was tainted by conflicts of interest and not independent,” said Leslie Jung-Isenwater, Ghosn`s spokeswoman. “As a long-time external advisor to Nissan, the company was not in fact an independent investigator, as it had provided legal advice on the very issues under investigation.” The case raises a number of points regarding the rule of law in Japan. It also shows that Western perceptions of the Japanese legal system sometimes lack insight and nuance. If you look at the depictions of the Carlos Ghosn case in the Western media today, the reader finds himself in a Hollywood thriller: a hero held by an unjust judicial system in a remote and unknown country flees injustice in a case in the style of audio equipment (supported by two acolytes, one of whom is a former member of the US special forces). On July 3, 2018, Kobayashi Nada — who was in charge of legal affairs at Nissan at the time — advised on disclosure requirements in Japan when Nissan tried to pay Ghosn from his retirement from retirement, according to an email seen by Bloomberg. This was in response to Ghosn`s questions, which were passed on to the company via Nada and Kelly. “L&W is not independent because it was involved in the facts under investigation and acknowledges that it may be called as a witness,” Allen & Overy, a law firm hired to advise Nissan`s legal department, wrote in a January 2019 letter. The decision, which is virtually a rejection of much of the government`s case, is likely to be the latest in Japan`s year-long legal battle against Mr Ghosn, the automaker`s former boss.
Then, without their consent, according to their statement in an affidavit, they also took a hard drive from Gebran, their former employer, who had many customers such as Nissan, Renault and Ghosn. The hard drive, which did not belong to Nissan, was managed by the office manager who worked for Nissan. It contained “several thousand” legal documents, emails and Gebran`s database, we were told that all had been informed by Ghosn`s party that they were protected by professional secrecy under Lebanese law. The report that resulted from the investigation – by Nada codenamed Kali 10 for the Hindu goddess and destroyer of evil – was more than 170 pages long and was held in front of a narrow group within Nissan. An army of Lawyers and Paralegals from Latham & Watkins in Tokyo and Los Angeles spent hours sifting through emails to create a timeline of how Ghosn`s salary was paid and who decided what and when. No fewer than six other law firms, one from Renault and the other from Nissan, warned the automaker`s legal department, then headed by former chief attorney Passi, of the potential legal risks and conflicts of interest related to the inclusion of Nada and Latham & Watkins in the investigation.