Wife: Ex-Nissan Boss Treated Harshly in Jail

She says he lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2019 7:23 AM CST
Wife Says Ex-Nissan Boss Is Being Mistreated in Jail
FILE - In this May 12, 2016, file photo, then Nissan Motor Co. President and CEO Carlos Ghosn speaks during a press conference in Yokohama, near Tokyo.   (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn may be spending another six months in a jail cell in Japan, despite his wife's claim that he is being subjected to "cruel and inhumane" treatment. In a letter to Human Rights Watch, Carole Ghosn said her 64-year-old husband lost 15 pounds in the space of two weeks after his Nov. 19 arrest and was being denied access to lawyers, the Wall Street Journal reports. "For hours each day, the prosecutors interrogate him, browbeat him, lecture him, and berate him, outside the presence of his attorney, in an effort to extract a confession," she wrote.

Ghosn, who has been in a Tokyo detention center since his arrest on charges of financial misconduct, appeared noticeably thinner during a court appearance last week. Prosecutors say he under-reported his income by millions and committed a breach of trust by providing company money to a Saudi businessman friend. The Tokyo District Court rejected his request for release on bail Tuesday, meaning he is likely to stay in jail until his trial later this year, the AP reports. Sources tell CNBC that Nissan plans to file a civil suit to seek damages from Ghosn, who allegedly improperly used company money for residences in Tokyo, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, and Beirut. (Nissan's board ousted Ghosn days after his arrest.)

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