It has been interesting to gain a little insight into how pernicious the Japanese judiciary can be though.
The story of the artist Megumi Igarashi is especially funny (yet also disturbingly sexist)...
Ghosn though, is far from funny. But fleeing the country is a pretty sketchy response to a criminal charge.
He was facing a 20 year prison sentence in a country with a 99.7% conviction rate. The trial was to take place later this year. He's 65 years old. I have no idea whether he's guilty of the charges but the reality of the situation he faced was that his only two choices were flee now or likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
> In September, in one of the first legal accords of the saga, Ghosn settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over claims of failing to disclose more than $140 million in pay to him from Nissan. He was fined $1 million while Nissan was fined $15 million and Greg Kelly $100,000. He is barred from serving as a director or officer of a public company for ten years and Kelly for five years
Even in the US he was caught.
He used company funds for himself. It's pretty clear. If an average man would have done that he would have been paying it already, but he is a rich man so he could escape.