What’s next for fugitive ex Nissan boss – Michael Drury and Shaul Brazil talk to The Times

What’s next for fugitive ex Nissan boss – Michael Drury and Shaul Brazil talk to The Times

BCL partners Michael Drury and Shaul Brazil speak to The Times on the legal situation of ex-Nissan and Renault boss, Carlos Ghosn, currently on the run from the Japanese legal system.

Here are some extracts from the article featuring Michael and Shaul’s quotes:

“Details are clearer of how Carlos Ghosn, the former chief executive of Nissan and Renault, was able to escape from the clutches of the “rigged” Japanese justice system to Lebanon. Yet questions arise — not least in Ghosn’s mind — as to whether he will ever feel confident about being able to travel legally again.

Ghosn justified his flight by claiming that he would not face a fair trial in Japan. Yet as Michael Drury of BCL Solicitors says, no lawyer in England and Wales could advise a client to flee in similar circumstances. “To do so would be a breach of their professional obligations given it would countenance an abuse of the court’s process and a crime, and might even amount to a crime itself by the lawyer,” he says.

Shaul Brazil of BCL points out: “There is a reported 99.9 per cent conviction rate in Japan and this would be the trial of the new decade.” In other words, experts anticipate that the Japanese authorities would do almost anything to secure a conviction.”

 

This article was originally published by The Times on 09/01/2020. You can read the full article on their website.

Michael Drury is a partner with a diverse practice, ranging from extradition to representing individuals in regulatory proceedings brought by the FCA; acting in criminal investigations by the SFO; and is a leading expert on surveillance and investigatory powers as well as information law and cybercrime.

Shaul Brazil is a partner at BCL specialising in business crime and regulatory enforcement, acting for individuals and companies in complex cross-border matters. He has extensive experience advising on multi-jurisdictional corruption and fraud investigations, asset recovery proceedings (in the UK and overseas), and extradition proceedings (in particular, politically motivated requests). He has acted in numerous high-profile investigations and prosecutions brought by the SFO and many other UK and overseas enforcement authorities.