Carlos Ghosn may go to jail



06/24/2019 12:21 PM


Carlos Ghosn, former Head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is now under home detention in his luxurious apartment in Tokyo.



Adam Tinworth
In spite of this, the top manager of the European and Japanese automakers once again is threatened with prison. Tokyo Prosecutor's Office is preparing to initiate another, the third in a row, criminal case against him. This time, the 65-year-old Ghosn could be charged with transferring approximately ¥ 350 million yen ($3.1 million) from Renault and ¥ 560 million from Nissan through the Omani company Suhail Bahwan Automobiles (SBA) in Lebanon, his Omani firm. This money was in possession of Ghosn, and he intended to pay remuneration to members of the board of directors.

Investigative department of the Tokyo District Prosecutor’s Office is planning to charge Ghosn in court. The office states that in March 2011 he first instructed Head of the Middle East Directorate of Nissan to pay a large bonus to SBA from his “director's reserve”. At the same time, the prosecutor's office emphasizes, the transaction was carried out without any contract whatsoever. He worked with Renault according to the same scheme.

In April 2017, Carlos Ghosn agreed with the SBA to transfer half of the amounts received from Renault and Nissan to the Lebanese company GFI.

The Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office suspects Ghosn in transferring ¥ 560 million (about $ 5 million). This is half of the $ 10 million he received from Nissan in 2017–18, and €2.85 million is half of the €5.7 million received from Renault to GFI accounts in 2017.

This is not all troubles of Carlos Ghosn. According to the French Liberation, the French prosecutor's office is also investigating circumstances of the transfer of a large amount of Renault money to SBA accounts. Notifications about beginning of the investigation were sent to Ghosn and his wife by mail.

Carlos Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 on charges of tax evasion. He is charged with the fact that he hid half of the $ 150 million of remuneration from financial authorities of Japan. Nissan was supposed to pay him this sum after leaving the post of Chairman of the Board. In early March 2019, Ghosn was released on bail, but less than a month later, on April 4, was detained once again. For the second time, the former top manager was released on bail of $ 4.5 million on April 25. Now he may go back to jail before the trial.

Ghosn, has three citizenship (French, Lebanese and Brazilian) denies all accusations of financial manipulation and fraud.

source: japantimes.co.jp, liberation.fr


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