The detention of ex-president Ghosn of Nissan extended after the arrest

TOKYO (AP) – A Japanese court on Friday approved the detention of former Nissan president Carlos Ghosn until April 14, after his fourth arrest for financial misconduct.

Ghosn was arrested on Thursday and is currently being held at the Tokyo Detention Center. The detention application was approved by the Tokyo District Court, the court said in a statement. Prosecutors may request another extension of 10 days.

Ghosn, 65, was arrested on November 19 and released on March 6 on bail of one billion yen ($ 8.9 million). He says he's innocent of all the allegations.

The latest arrest is suspected that $ 5 million sent by a Nissan subsidiary to an Oman dealer was diverted to a company effectively controlled by Ghosn.

Friday's decision means that Ghosn will not be released in time for the April 11 press conference that he had promised to hold "to tell the truth about what's going on".

His lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters that his client's arrest was again unfair when Ghosn had settled bail conditions.

Prosecutors had previously tried to prevent release, claiming he could pose a risk of absconding and that he could destroy or tamper with evidence. They demanded the latest detention, arguing that he could handle evidence related to the new allegations.

The previous allegations, on which Ghosn was accused, involve an underreporting of his compensation in financial documents, the fact that Nissan bears investment losses and payments to a Saudi businessman.

Ghosn says that compensation has never been decided or paid, that investment losses have never been suffered and that the payments involved legitimate services.

The case of Ghosn and prolonged detention without conviction attract the attention of the Japanese criminal justice system.

According to legal experts, Mr. Ghosn 's bail was swift and many defendants spent months, if not more than a year in extreme cases, in custody.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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