TOKYO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Lawyers for former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Thursday they will request that the financial misconduct charges against him be dismissed, arguing that his prosecution resulted from unlawful collusion.
Junichiro Hironaka, the ex-auto tycoon's lawyer, said the case against Ghosn, who has been charged with understating his remuneration in Nissan securities reports and aggravated breach of trust related to the misuse of Nissan funds, was "fabricated".
"We have proof that the prosecutors collected evidence and conducted a plea-bargain with Nissan officials unlawfully to press charges against Ghosn," Hironaka, told a press briefing on the matter.
In a statement from Ghosn's defense counsel released Thursday, the lawyers argued his prosecution was a result of unlawful collusion between numerous parties to oust him from his post.
"The prosecution against Ghosn resulted from unlawful collusion between the prosecutors, government officials at METI (the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and executives at Nissan, who formed a secret task force to drum up allegations of wrongdoing by Ghosn," the statement said.
"Their goal was to oust Mr. Ghosn in order to prevent him from further integrating Nissan and partner Renault SA, which threatened the autonomy of one of Japan's industry flagships," the lawyers said.
Ghosn, who was released on bail in April was present at Thursday's pretrial session to sort out points of contention and will plead not guilty to all charges, according to his lawyers.
His lawyers will argue the plea-bargain deal made between prosecutors and Nissan was "reached with the objective" of ousting Ghosn and was an abuse of the system, and, essentially illegal.
Charges that Ghosn under-reported remuneration will be resolutely disputed by his lawyers, as will those of aggravated breach of trust over suspected misappropriation of Nissan funds, his lawyers asserted during the pretrial session at the Tokyo District Court.
Ghosn's lawyers also said that all accusations involving illegitimate payments made involving a Saudi businessman and a dealership in Oman, are baseless and the payments were lawful.
Ghosn himself said in a video message in April that he had been the victim of a conspiratorial plot.
"This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing, that is what we're talking about," he said, adding that the conspiracy was down to people and even Nissan itself feeling its autonomy was being threatened.
The once-feted business heavyweight who holds Brazilian, French and Lebanese citizenship, was widely credited as the force behind Nissan's rapid turnaround from near-bankruptcy since 1999.
In 1999, Ghosn was sent to Nissan and served as chief executive officer following the Japanese automaker's capital alliance made with Renault. He served as Nissan president from 2000 and its chief executive officer from 2001 to 2017.
