Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn arrested over ‘misconduct’
Nissan chairman, Carlos Ghosn, has been arrested over claims of financial misconduct, including under-reporting his pay package and personal use of company assets.
Mr Gohsn, a towering figure in the car industry, is also chairman and chief executive of Renault and chairman on Mitsubishi Motors.
According to Japanese media reports, over a 5 year period from 2011, he under-reported an amount totaling 5bn yen (£34m). In the most recent financial year, Carlos Ghosn was paid 735m yen (£5.1m) by Nissan, 227m yen (£1.6m) by Mitsubishi and €7.4m (£6.6m) by Renault – totalling around £13.3m.
Carlos will be sacked from the Japanese firm after a board meeting on Thursday, its chief executive said.
Nissan being the world’s 6th largest carmaker, it’s site in Sunderland is the UK’s biggest car plant.
Nissan chief executive, Hiroto Saikawa, said “I feel despair, indignation and resentment. As the details are disclosed I believe that people will feel the same way as I feel today.”
Senior Executive, Greg Kelly, has also been arrested due to being deeply involved in the misconduct
Mitsubishi said, “In response to the arrest of Ghosn, and since the alleged misconduct is related to a corporate governance and compliance issue, it is to be proposed to the board of directors to promptly remove Ghosn.”
Shares in Renault fell sharply after the news, dropping almost 10%.
Mr Saikawa said that Mr Ghosn had been given too much power making proper oversight difficult.
For more information, visit the BBC website.