After 22 days of detention and interrogation by Tokyo prosecutor Carlos Ghosn, the CEO Renault, should be formally indicted next Monday in a proceeding that should lead to a trial in several quarters. Greg Kelly, his former right hand man at Nissan , will also be formally charged. The prosecution accuses the two men of violating the FIEL – Financial Instruments and Exchange Act – knowingly for five fiscal years, between 2010 and 2015, the remuneration of Carlos Ghosn in the financial report that Nissan must regularly submit to the authorities. stock.
Theoretically, this financial document must, since a change in the law in 2010, list specific compensation of all staff of the company earning more than 100 million yen per year. The prosecutor assures that Carlos Ghosn would have included in this report only half of the revenues that he had to touch, at the time, as CEO of Nissan.
He would have programmed, with Greg Kelly, a deferred payment of the other half of his compensation so that the total sum which was due to him does not appear in a document that could become public. The Franco-Brazilian boss would have wanted to spare a new controversy in Japan and France on the size of its different wages received in both countries.
Categorical denials
According to the Japanese media, Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly categorically deny financial malfeasance and ensure that the deferred payments did not have to be included in the financial document given to the stock exchange authorities since their amounts were not yet exactly determined and they were not actually paid by the company. Arguments that seem to contest the accusation. The public prosecutor’s office, which does not currently blame Carlos Ghosn for tax evasion or other misuse of corporate assets, estimates that this reduction involved a total amount, over five years, of 5 billion yen, or 39 million euros. .
The prosecutor, who plays “big” in a matter very media diplomatic resonance, prepare a second charge against Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly, in addition to the first indictment to be confirmed Monday. According to reports reported Tuesday by the daily “Sankei” and confirmed by the “Nikkei”, the two men should be “re-arrested” next Monday to have, this time, minimized about 4 billion yen (31 million euros) the remuneration of Carlos Ghosn between 2015 and 2017 in the documents given to the stock market authorities. Justice suspecting them of using similar methods on this sequence to those used in early 2010. Again, the two accused deny having committed any inequality.
Second component
As part of this second component, they could be detained again, separately, for up to 22 days in Kosuge detention center located north of Tokyo. The court could then confirm, around December 30, a second indictment before deciding on further proceedings. A third arrest, on other charges, being always possible.
The Japanese press has regularly reported, since the tragic arrest of Carlos Ghosn on November 19, other financial crimes that could be blamed. The media reported, in turn, wages paid to a loved one, luxury homes bought by Nissan in several countries and made available to it or other hidden benefits. But this unverifiable information has never been mentioned in the few formal presentations made by the Tokyo Prosecutor’s Office.
When they removed Carlos Ghosn from his Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors president titles, the boards of the two manufacturers had assured that their former boss had committed several serious mistakes and that he could not, therefore, drive any more. their business. However, they have never concretely substantiated their accusations.