The Tokyo prosecutor’s office again placed Carlos Ghosn under arrest on Friday (December 21st), accusing him of breach of trust aggravated by the transfer of personal losses to the car manufacturer’s accounts.
The prosecution understands that around October 2008, Ghosn was struggling with paper losses of 1.85 billion yen (14.5 million euros) related to a swap contract with a bank he does not name not. An individual had allowed a letter of credit to be set up for Ghosn and a company managed by that individual had subsequently received $ 14.7 million in cash from Nissan in four installments from 2009 to 2012, reads the statement of the prosecution, adding that these payments had been made for the benefit of Ghosn and this particular. “In doing so, (Ghosn) acted in such a way that there was breach of trust and he inflicted harm on Nissan,” the prosecutor’s office wrote.
According to Nissan sources, the individual who helped Ghosn is Khaled Al-Juffali, vice president of EA Juffali and Brothers, one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest conglomerates, and a member of the board of directors. Monetary Authority of Saudi Arabia. He is also the majority shareholder in a company called Al-Dahana, which owns half of a regional joint venture named Nissan Gulf, the other half owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nissan Motor. Sheikh Khaled Juffali did not comment on this, according to an email sent by E.A. Juffali and Brothers. Motonari Otsuru, a Tokyo-based Ghosn lawyer, was not available to comment on this information, according to someone at his office who answered the phone. A representative of the Ghosn family declined to comment.
Other media reported that Ghosn denied, through a lawyer, transferring losses to Nissan and told investigators that these four payments were for legitimate business, including a gratuity for dealing with problems that occurred. at Nissan dealers in Saudi Arabia.
The Tokyo prosecutor’s office refrained from commenting. Asked by Ghosn, a spokesman for Nissan said: “We can not speak on matters relating to Ghosn’s arrest for breach of trust, and Nissan’s own investigation is continuing and his investigation widens.
“The parquet floor knows more than us”
According to Nissan sources, Nissan’s investigations concluded that Ghosn failed to take losses directly from Nissan. The Securities and Exchance Surveillance Commission (SESC), the gendarme of the Japanese stock exchanges, had ruled Ghosn’s attempt to take losses directly by Nissan, said one of the sources. We do not know what the EESC considered illegal precisely. A spokesman for the SESC said he could not speak on particular issues. The sources wanted to remain anonymous because the internal investigation of Nissan has not yet produced its conclusions publicly.
Ghosn then received help from Al-Juffali, who used his own money to provide a guarantee to a bank to issue a letter of credit that the Tokyo bank Shinsei Bank was demanding from Ghosn, the sources said. A spokesman for Shinsei said he could not speak on specific cases. Reuters could not identify the bank that issued the letter of credit.
The four installments arranged by Ghosn were made through an internal Nissan fund, known within the company as the “CEO Reserve (boss)”, and to a subsidiary of Nissan that has then paid a company owned by Al-Juffali, said one of the sources, without giving the names of the companies in question. The first payment, of $ 3 million, was made during the 2009 fiscal year, followed by payments of $ 3.6 million, $ 3.9 million and $ 4.2 million the following three fiscal years. added the sources. They also said that Nissan investigators did not initially examine these transactions with all the speed with which the prosecutor’s office showed last week. “The prosecution knows more than us,” said one of the sources.
E.A. Juffali and Brothers was established in 1946. It specializes in electricity and telecommunications and has diversified into the building, insurance, construction and distribution of vehicles.
Founded in 2008, the Nissan Gulf joint venture was originally responsible for the marketing and commercial strategy and concession development in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Bahrain. But since its scope has been reduced to Kuwait and Bahrain for reasons unknown in the immediate future, observed one of the sources.
Former Nissan administrator Greg Kelly, accused of complicity with Carlos Ghosn, was released on bail Tuesday after more than a month in custody for financial fraud.
Japanese prosecutors have the habit of arresting individuals repeatedly on different charges produced by the same case. This allows them to keep suspects in custody while continuing their investigation, and it also means they can conduct interrogations without the presence of a lawyer.
With Reuters (by Norihiko Shirouzu, Marwa Rashad in Ryad, Saeed Azhar in Dubai, Tim Kelly, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo, Wilfrid Exbrayat for French service, edited by Eric Faye)