Former Nissan executive convicted over Carlos Ghosn pay case

A former Nissan executive Greg Kelly has been found guilty of helping the Japanese car giant's ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn to evade pay disclosure laws.

The court in Tokyo heard that Mr Kelly had assisted Mr Ghosn in hiding 9.3 billion yen (£60m; $80.4m) of his income from financial regulators.

Mr Kelly was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for three years.

In 2019, Mr Ghosn fled Japan to his home country Lebanon hidden in a box on a private jet.

The ruling means that Mr Kelly, who is a US citizen, will not be jailed as long as he adheres to the conditions of his sentence for the next three years.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison sentence for Mr Kelly.

Under Japanese law both sides could appeal the verdict.

Mr Kelly's sentencing brings to an end the first, and potentially only, trial over the charges that saw Mr Ghosn's arrest in 2018.

Before Mr Ghosn's escape from Japan he was expected to be a co-defendant alongside Mr Kelly.

Mr Ghosn was first arrested on charges of financial misconduct, for allegedly under-reporting his pay package for the five years to 2015.

He has told the BBC about his dramatic escape, that involved disguising himself to slip unnoticed through the streets of Tokyo, being hidden in a large music equipment box and fleeing to his native Lebanon.

In 2021, an American father and son were handed jail terms in Japan for helping to smuggle Mr Ghosn out of the country on a private jet.

US Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison, while his son Peter was handed a term of one year and eight months.