Carlos Ghosn, ex-Nissan chief, granted bail in Japan. Again. - CNN

A Tokyo district court announced that Ghosn was granted bail on Thursday at 500 million yen ($4.5 million).

Prosecutors appealed the decision, noting the court acknowledged that Ghosn was planning to contact people related to the case and could destroy evidence.

Bail proceedings have been halted while the court reviews the appeal.

It is the latest development in a legal saga that has seen the former chairman of Nissan (NSANF) and Renault (RNLSY) arrested multiple times and twice jailed.

Ghosn had previously been released on bail in early March after spending 108 days in custody.

The auto executive was re-arrested at the beginning of April on new charges of financial misconduct. Prosecutors accuse him of funneling $5 million of Nissan's money to a car dealership he controlled.

Ghosn called the re-arrest "outrageous and arbitrary."

The deposed auto titan is also awaiting trial on separate charges that he understated his income for years and abused his position by transferring personal investment losses to Nissan.

He denies those charges and has accused executives at Nissan of conspiring to remove him from power.

"This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing," Ghosn said in a video that was recorded before he was re-arrested.

Since he was first arrested in November, Ghosn has been ousted from his positions at Nissan and Mitsubishi, and resigned as chief executive and chairman of Renault. It is a stunning fall for an industry titan once heralded as a visionary, and credited with building a powerful global autos alliance.

Nissan declined to comment on Ghosn being granted bail, saying that an internal investigation "uncovered substantial evidence of blatantly unethical conduct" by its former chief.

The Japanese carmaker issued a profit warning on Wednesday, saying that operating profit for the 2018 fiscal year was likely to drop 45% from the previous year to 318 billion yen ($2.8 billion).

Yoko Wakatsuki contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/24/cars/carlos-ghosn-release/index.html

2019-04-25 08:55:00Z
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