Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, might be arrested by Japanese authorities on suspected violations of financial trading rules. Renault shares fell by more than 12 percent after the news broke out. The Asahi newspaper published a report according to which the CEO was suspected of understating his income on financial statements and had agreed to speak to Tokyo prosecutors on a voluntary basis.
According to a press release by the company, he is accused also of many other illegalities, including the use of the company’s assets for personal purposes. Nissan said it would propose to the board of directors to remove him as soon as possible.
”Based on a whistleblower report, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has been conducting an internal investigation over the past several months regarding misconduct involving the company’s Representative Director and Chairman Carlos Ghosn and Representative Director Greg Kelly.
The investigation showed that over many years both Ghosn and Kelly have been reporting compensation amounts in the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report that were less than the actual amount, in order to reduce the disclosed amount of Carlos Ghosn’s compensation.
Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Kelly’s deep involvement has also been confirmed,” shows the press release.