Former Renault-Nissan boss Ghosn confirms he has left Japan

He faces four charges - which he denies - including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.Nissan sacked him as chairman, saying internal investigations revealed misconduct ranging from understating his salary while he was its chief executive to transferring $5m of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.The case cast a harsh light on Japan's criminal justice system, which allows suspects to be detained for long periods and prohibits defence lawyers from being present during interrogations that can last eight hours a day.He was released from prison in March on a $9m bail, among the highest ever paid in Japan, after the court rejected an appeal by prosecutors to keep him in jail.Ghosn has since said he is the victim of a boardroom coup, accusing former Nissan colleagues of "backstabbing" and describing them as selfish rivals bent on derailing a closer alliance between the Japanese automaker and its top shareholder Renault, of which Ghosn was also chairman.His lawyers have asked the court to dismiss all charges, accusing prosecutors of colluding with government officials and Nissan executives to remove him in order to block any takeover of the automaker by Renault.Michael Penn, president of the Tokyo-based Shingetsu News Agency, told Al Jazeera that the Japanese government is likely to ignore accusations of flaws in its legal system, even though "it is a view that many observers will sympathise with.""But, on the other hand, there's also a large stream of thought that, even if the Japanese system is deeply flawed, it would have been much better for [Ghosn] to stay and fight, and suffer the punishment if it came, because that would be better for those he has left behind here.