<![CDATA[Carlos Ghosn: fugitive or victim? The issue that split Japan into locals and foreigners]>
The decision by former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn to flee Japan before he was to face trial for financial impropriety later this year has caused something of a schism between Japanese and "gaijin", a common term for foreigners " and his press conference in Lebanon on Wednesday has only entrenched those views.
A defiant Ghosn accused Nissan and Japanese prosecutors of plotting against him, saying the charges he faced were "baseless" and "there was no way I was going to be treated fairly". Prosecutors hit back, saying his one-sided criticism of the Japanese justice system was unacceptable.
On Thursday, Japanese Justice Minister Masako Mori urged Ghosn to return to Japan and make his case in court, saying his claims were "baseless" and did not justify his escape in any way.
Japan's Justice Minister Masako Mori says Carlos Ghosn should face trial in a Japanese court and present concrete evidence to prove his innocence. Photo: AFP
While many Japanese insist Ghosn's flight from justice is further proof of his guilt and dismiss suggestions he would not have received a fair trial, most foreign residents are siding with the fugitive, claiming Japan has one law for the Japanese and something completely different for outsiders.
Unsurprisingly, the debate is being stoked by the partisan domestic media, with the right-wing Yomiuri newspaper stating that Ghosn's escape "makes light of the Japanese judicial system and is absolutely unacceptable". The usually more placid Asahi said his decision to flee "has trampled on justice and is totally unforgivable".
Jun Okumura, an analyst at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, agrees wholeheartedly.
"It's absolutely ridiculous to suggest that he would not have got a fair trial in Japan," he said. "The court hearings are open and public; the judgments and the evidence on which those judgments are based are all in the public record.
"It's not as if he had been thrown into a dungeon or held in solitary confinement and this is a country that is in the top 10 in the world for judicial independence and openness," he added. "This is like Eric Snowden fleeing to Russia and telling us how horrible the US judicial system is.
"Any claim that he would not be able to get his side of the story across unless he left Japan is just utterly ridiculous," said Okumura.
"To my mind, his decision to flee only proves either his guilt or his unwillingness to put up with Japanese penitentiary cuisine for five years," he said.
Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn wipes his face during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 8. Photo: Reuters
Makoto Hosomura, who works for a Tokyo-based wine import company, was similarly outraged at Ghosn "cheating" his punishment.
"He ran because he knew that he was guilty and that he was going to be punished. He said he was innocent; if he was truly innocent, then he should have followed Japanese law and proved it to the court.
"I'm angry," said Hosomura. "I believe the Japanese government should do everything that it can and use international law to bring him back here for trial. That might not be possible, but they must try. He committed these crimes in Japan so he must be tried for them here."
Those attitudes, however, are in stark contrast to those of many foreign residents of Japan.
"I believe the issue is less about whether he is guilty or not " and just to be clear, I don't know if he is or not " but I suspect that if he had been found guilty then the punishment he received would have been disproportionate because he was Carlos Ghosn, he was foreign, and he was the former chairman of Nissan," said Riccardo Tossani, an Italian-Australian who owns an architecture practice in Tokyo.
"If this had been a Japanese CEO accused of the same crimes, I seriously doubt he would have been treated in the same way that Ghosn has," he said.
"Ghosn would have been punished for political reasons, for reasons of business culture, and for what he represents. And I believe he fled because he knew that too," said Tossani.
The Istanbul Police Department provided a photograph of the case which former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn allegedly hid in while fleeing from Japan to Lebanon via Turkey. Photo: AFP
Critics of the different treatment for foreign and Japanese CEOs in times of crisis only have to look at the example of Hiroto Saikawa, who was elevated within Nissan by Ghosn and took over as chief executive when Ghosn was fired in 2018. Saikawa resigned in September last year after it emerged he was overpaid to the tune of Y47 million (US$433,437).
Saikawa apologised for what he claimed was an oversight. He was never detained and never charged by Japanese authorities. Meanwhile, one of the charges faced by Ghosn was for allegedly under-reporting his compensation to the tune of US$85 million.
Similarly, The Wall Street Journal reported that a former head of auditing at the company made a list of about 80 Nissan officials who had enabled the alleged wrongdoing by Ghosn, and planned to set up a committee to look into disciplinary action against them. One of the people on the list reportedly stepped in to quash the plan on the grounds that it was not necessary.
"There have been a number of recent cases of foreign executives at Japanese companies who have pointed out indiscretions that are acceptable in business culture here, but are not outside Japan," said another foreign businessman who declined to be named. "I think that this is a little bit of payback for those indiscretions being pointed out and embarrassing Japan Inc."
Journalists stand outside the house of former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: AP
Those incidents include the 2011 dismissal of Michael Woodford, the British CEO of Olympus Corp, after he questioned the board about suspicious transactions " including to members of Japan's "yakuza" gangs " and falsified financial declarations going back 30 years. Eventually, four senior members of the board were charged and found guilty. All four received short, suspended sentences.
"The business world, the political world and the judicial world here wanted to make an example of Ghosn," the executive said.
Internet news sites popular with foreign residents of Japan have attracted support for Ghosn.
"He is really sticking it to the Japanese system," wrote one commenter on the Japan Today website. "And good on him."
Another post stated, "He is in the right. If he didn't flee, no-one would question the medieval system. He saved two companies and is now putting the light on an archaic legal system. Wish I had such an impact on life."
Elsewhere, a commenter said: "Ghosn did a lot of really positive things for the Japanese and Nissan. Suddenly, he is arrested and denied the right to speak? Thankfully, his family stood by him through it all and he got his freedom back. His speech brought tears to my eyes."
In this 2018 file photo, then Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn presents a new model. Photo: AFP
Others heaped scorn on Nissan. "You tried your dirty tricks. Sorry, you failed," said one. "The Nissan executives are running around like headless chickens, terrified of the coming revelations. They look like fools."
"This episode has made Japan look like a third-world nation," said one post, while another suggested, "I bet the shredder machines are working overtime!"
One commenter added that Nissan may be gone soon. "No-one buying their cars, no-one interested in dealing with that filthy company any longer. They have destroyed themselves."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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