Tokyo: Japanes automaker Nissan on Monday accused its chairman Carlos Ghosn of “significant acts of misconduct” including underreporting his salary and said it would move to fire him, as reports emerged he faced arrest in Tokyo.
In a statement, Nissan said it had been conducting a probe into Mr Ghosn for several months after receiving a whistleblower report and had uncovered misconduct going back several years.
The statement came after local media reported that Mr Ghosn was being questioned on Monday night by prosecutors in Tokyo and was expected to be arrested on violation of financial regulations .
The Tokyo prosecutor’s office had no comment on reports it was questioning Mr Ghosn, who also heads an alliance of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
In its statement, Nissan said it had launched an investigation into both Mr Ghosn and representative director Greg Kelly.
“The investigation showed that over many years both Mr Ghosn and Mr Kelly have been reporting compensation amou-nts 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,” the statement said.
“Also, in regards to Ghosn, numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets, and Mr Kelly’s deep involvement has also been confirmed.”
The company said it had provided information to Japanese prosecutors and would propose to the board of directors that it “promptly remove Ghosn from his positions” along with Kelly on Thursday.
“If he is arrested, it’s going to rock the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as he is the keystone of the alliance,” said Satoru Takada, an analyst at TIW.
Nissan, however, said the arrest will not have any impact on the alliance. Nicknamed Le Cost Killer, Brazil-born Ghosn, 64, is known for overhauling Renault and Nissan starting in the nineties.
Renault came to the rescue of the Japanese automaker in 1999 and parachuted in Mr Ghosn, who set about slashing costs and jobs in a corporate overhaul.
