Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is seeking permission from the Tokyo District Court to attend the automaker's board meeting on Tuesday, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
His attendance on Tuesday would mark the first time for Ghosn to meet colleagues since being arrested in November. He faces charges of under-reporting his salary by about $82 million over nearly a decade.
Ghosn, one of the world's best-known auto executives, has called the charges "meritless" and said he is the target of a boardroom coup. He was released from detention last week on a $9 million bail, having been held for more than 100 days.
He is seeking permission to attend Tuesday's board meeting, the person said, declining to be identified because the information has yet to be made public.
Though Ghosn has been removed as chairman of Nissan Motor as well as alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi Motors, he remains on the board of all three, given that a shareholder vote is required to remove a board member.
The court is expected to decide whether to grant permission as early as Monday, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
Ghosn's lawyer and representatives for Nissan could not be reached for comment. Ghosn has agreed to strict bail conditions which include residing in Tokyo and not travelling abroad.
Separately, Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi plan to set up a joint board meeting structure under which Renault's new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, is likely to take the chair, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The new set-up will replace two separate Dutch-based companies — one for Nissan and Renault, and the other for Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, the people said.
TV Tokyo reported on Sunday that the meeting structure was aimed at discussing issues related to their alliance in a step towards integrating operations.