Tokyo prosecutors admit Carlos Ghosn on misappropriation charge, in "most serious claim" yet
On Monday, the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Tokyo District reported the former Nissan Motor Co., chairman Carlos Ghosn for the fourth time, this time on a fee to abuse the company's money for personal use – a statement described by legal experts such as the most violent against him so far.
In the last charge, Ghosn was accused of expropriating a Nissan subsidiary's payments to a distributor in Oman, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles. Prosecutors claim that some of the money, about $ 560 million, had been turned off to a Lebanese investment company that he effectively controls for his own use, for example, when buying a yacht.
Ghosn's defense group could file a request
He was already arrested and accused of charges related to underreporting his allowance for years, and making Nissan covered by his personal loss in 2008. He denies any misdemeanor.
Stephen Givens, a Tokyo-based corporate lawyer, said the fourth charge is the most serious charge the prosecutors have made against the 65-year-old auto titan so far.
Ghosn was accused while on a citizen on April 4. He and his lawyers condemned his fourth arrest, blasting it as an "arbitrary" attempt to sabotage his scheduled April 1[ads1]1 press conference. He has been behind bars since that day in Tokyo Detention House, where he had been held for 108 days for his release on the citizens March 6.
"Although it was a separate case, it is unthinkable to rear someone who has been released on bail," said Junichiro Hironaka, one of his lawyers, for a April 4 press conference.
Ghosn came to Nissan in 1999 and is credited for rescuing the Japanese car maker from bankruptcy. He was arrested on November 19 last year after Nissan said the internal probe found Ghosn and closely related Greg Kelly had engaged in financial failure. Kelly also denies any offense.
In a video filmed the day before his fourth arrest, Ghosn knew his exhaustion from the machine he was leading for 20 years as "a conspiracy" of "selfish" Nissan leaders who were afraid to pursue their alliance with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Renault SA.
