(Bloomberg) -- Former Nissan Motor Co. director Greg Kelly was found guilty of helping Carlos Ghosn underreport his compensation, with a Tokyo court giving him a six-month suspended sentence in a decision that draws a line under one of the most shocking corporate sagas of the past decade. 

Chief judge Kenji Shimotsu suspended the sentence for three years in a ruling Thursday, bringing to a close 17 months of trial proceedings that essentially served as a proxy for trying former Nissan leader Ghosn. The two auto executives were arrested in Tokyo on the same day in November 2018 and charged with various financial misconduct offenses.

Kelly, 65, was left alone to defend himself after Ghosn staged a spectacular escape from Japan at the end of 2019, making his way by private jet to Lebanon, where he now resides. Kelly, who formerly oversaw human resources and legal affairs at Nissan, argued that there was no case against him because there wasn’t an agreement to pay Ghosn, as well as no requirement to disclose any such compensation and that his former boss was never paid. 

Prosecutors had sought a sentence of two years in prison, arguing that Kelly had a central role in helping Ghosn hide remuneration of more than 9 billion yen ($83 million). They argued that Kelly had a critical and essential role in coming up with measures to avoid disclosure of income and finding other ways to pay Ghosn.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.