Dropped From Mitsubishi and Nissan, Ghosn Faces New Allegations

Mitsubishi Motors, which joined the Renault-Nissan Alliance in 2016, voted unanimously to drop Carlos Ghosn as its chairman Monday, just a week after the executive’s arrest on suspicion of financial misdealings.

According to CEO Osamu Masuko, who now dons the title of interim chairman, it was an “agonizing decision.” For Ghosn, the agony has just begun. Currently housed in a Tokyo jail awaiting formal charges, the industry titan ended last week by seeing the company he ran for 15 years, Nissan, oust him as chairman. Renault hasn’t made a decision as to the fate of its CEO.

While Ghosn is accused of underreporting his income in the early part of the decade, a Japanese newspaper has shed light on another alleged misdeed.

From Reuters, citing Asahi Shimbun:

Citing multiple unnamed sources, the paper said that when Ghosn’s bank had called for more collateral from the executive, he instead handed the rights over the derivatives trade to Nissan, which effectively shouldered 1.7 billion yen ($15 million) in losses.

Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC) discovered this incident during that year’s routine inspection, the Asahi said.

Neither Nissan nor the SESC was willing to comment on the newspaper’s report. Ghosn is accused of conspiring with Nissan board member Greg Kelly to underreport the then-CEO’s income by up to $44 million in filings to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The filings took place between 2010 and 2014. Kelley is also being held. Under Japanese law, authorities have until December 12th to file charges against the two men.

As for Mitsubishi, the automaker didn’t wait to see the legal process through before making its decision — a course of action some Renault members are angling for. As reported by CNN, CEO Masuko said following the vote, “The priority was what to do to protect the company, what to do to protect our employees and their families. It was an unavoidable decision.”

[Image: Nissan]