Carlos Ghosn has developed a fever after spending more than a month in a prison room in Tokyo. The development has made the Japanese authorities to stop interrogating the former Nissan Motor Co. chairman.
His lawyer, Motonari Otsuru says 64-year-old Carlos Ghosn is tired from the long detention and interrogations. He has been locked up in a small jail cell with a toilet and wash basin since his arrest on Nov. 19.
As Ghosn faces a possible extension of his stay, Nissan and French partner Renault SA, which is still headed by the executive, are holding board meetings Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be named because the information isn’t public.
After almost two months in jail, Ghosn appeared in the Tokyo district court on Tuesday to defend himself, telling a Tokyo court he was “wrongly accused and unfairly detained” as he mounted a point-by-point defense against the accusations facing him. He wore a dark suit – but he also had handcuffs, plastic slippers and a rope around his waist. He was a pale imitation of the jet-setting car titan who saved Nissan and was the envy of auto executives worldwide. Ghosn appeared thinner and his hair was graying at the roots in his first public appearance since his arrest for alleged financial crimes.
Ghosn’s former aide and Nissan director Greg Kell was arrested the same day as the auto industry icon was released from jail last month and taken to a hospital afterward, Kyodo News reported earlier.
On Wednesday, Ghosn lost an appeal against his ongoing detention, diminishing the prospects of an early release on bail. His current detention term is scheduled to end Friday, although prosecutors have the right to appeal to a court for extending the detention. Meanwhile, Japan’s securities commission has asked prosecutors to indict the company, Ghosn and Kelly with additional charges.
