Tokyo court granted bail to Nissan’s Greg Kelly

Former Nissan Motor Co Representative Director Greg Kelly was granted bail by the Tokyo District Court on December 25, the court said, raising the prospect he could be freed before the end of Christmas day.

Kelly’s bail has been set at 70 million yen ($635,612), the court said in a statement.

Kelly has been detained along with ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn since their arrest on November 19 on suspicion of understating Ghosn’s income on several years of financial statements.

Public broadcaster NHK and other media first reported the court granting bail to Kelly. The decision means Kelly could be released from detention as early as Tuesday, NHK said.

Prosecutors could appeal the court decision.

The same court on Sunday extended Ghosn’s detention for 10 days, following fresh allegations of making Nissan shoulder personal investment losses.

Ghosn was re-arrested on Friday based on suspicions that around October 2008 he shifted personal trades to Nissan to make it responsible for 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) in appraisal losses, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also said Ghosn had inflicted damage on Nissan by having it deposit a total of $14.7 million on four occasions between June 2009 and March 2012 into a related bank account.

That extension of his detention means Ghosn will remain in Tokyo’s main detention center, where he has been confined since his arrest in November.