Two lawyers defending Nissan's ex-chief resigns

Carlos Ghosn's chief defense attorney Motonari Otsuru resigned and was replaced by a team that includes hotshot lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, in a change of strategy from the ousted Nissan Motor chairman three months after his arrest.

There was no immediate explanation as to why the attorneys, who include lead lawyer Motonari Otsuru, were quitting Ghosn's defense team.

A brief statement said only that "today Otsuru and (Masato) Oshikubo submitted letters of resignation to the court as the defense lawyers for the case of Carlos Ghosn".

Ghosn has been held in detention since his November 19 arrest and indicted for under-reporting his salary and breach of trust. He has denied the charges.

The once-feted auto executive hired Hiroshi Kawatsu as head of a new defense team, his office said on Wednesday.

Hironaka, 73, has won several high profile cases, helping acquit senior lawmaker Ichiro Ozawa and senior bureaucrat Atsuko Muraki.

Hiring Hironaka would mean a more aggressive legal strategy, said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor. Otsuru previously led the special prosecutors' office that is now handling Ghosn's case.

"Otsuru was miscast. He worked at the heart of the special prosecutor's office so he was not someone who was going to go after them aggressively," Gohara said. "Hironaka is an experienced defense lawyer who has won a number of cases. He will mount a more thorough and aggressive defense."

Otsuru's office confirmed his resignation in a statement but gave no reason for the move. A second member of Ghosn's defense team, Masato Oshikubo, had quit, it said.

Ghosn released a short statement thanking Otsuru for his team's "tireless and diligent work", and called him a "very capable and intelligent man and lawyer".

"As we begin the trial phase, I have decided to engage Hironaka-sensei as my legal counsel," Ghosn said, using an honorific suffix. "I look forward to defending myself vigorously, and this represents the beginning of the process of not only establishing my innocence but also shedding light on the circumstances that led to my unjust detention."

Ghosn was widely credited with rescuing Nissan from near-bankruptcy after he was brought over to Japan in 1999 by Renault after the French automaker bought a chunk of Nissan.

Since his arrest, Ghosn has resigned as chairman of Renault and been sacked as chief of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, the three-way alliance he once captained.