Carlos Ghosn makes his first court appearance since arrest

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn has made his first appearance in court in Japan since his arrest last year.

He was detained on allegations of financial misconduct in November, and re-arrested in December on a further claim of understating his pay.

In a statement released before the hearing, Mr Ghosn said he has been “wrongly accused and unfairly detained”.

His lengthy detention has drawn some criticism outside Japan.

Mr Ghosn has been accused of “significant acts of misconduct”, including under-reporting his pay package and personal use of company assets.

His defence team say the accusations against him are invalid because they do not relate to his salary, but to future payments that he was expected to receive after retirement.

Mr Ghosn is expected to tell the Japanese court he never received any compensation from Nissan that was not disclosed.

“I have been wrongly accused and unfairly detained based on meritless and unsubstantiated accusations,” Mr Ghosn’s prepared statement read.

The architect of the Renault-Nissan alliance wore a dark suit and appeared thinner as he arrived at the Tokyo court.

He was met by a crowd of journalists and television crew, as more than 1,000 people lined up to secure one of 14 seats inside the courtroom, which were assigned by lottery.