Carlos Ghosn has reduced part of his income knowingly

Business

Carlos Ghosn, accused by the Revenue Floor of Tokyo of concealing income, knowingly minus, from 2009, a portion of his remuneration after the entry into force of a law obliging him to disclose the full amount , according to a source close to the file.

Still in custody, the boss of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi automobile alliance is suspected of having minimized his income at Nissan of one billion yen per year (7.7 million euros) over the period of April 2010 to March 2015, in public documents submitted by the company to the Japanese financial authorities.

He was arrested on the evening of 19 November.

However, according to the source questioned Thursday by AFP, who wished to remain anonymous, the facts started as of the 2009/2010 financial year because of the entry into force of a law imposing the best administrators paid to disclose their earnings.

"All of a sudden, Mr. Ghosn found himself forced to publish his income (which amounted to 2 billion yen at the time) and from then on he began to divide them in two parts: an amount declared, another undeclared supposed in theory to be paid to him when he would withdraw from the group, "says this source close to the investigations of Nissan and the prosecution.

The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian would have "asked his badistants to make sure" that the revenues that were to be paid later are masked to other divisions of the company.

"Documents exist, signed by Carlos Ghosn", mentioning the various sums, which were kept in the secret secretariat, the same person adds. The unreported annual amounts have grown over time, reaching in 2017-2018 the sum of 1.7 billion yen, she says.

The purpose of the maneuver, according to the press, would have been to avoid criticism from shareholders and employees, in a country where CEOs receive more modest emoluments than elsewhere.

Greg Kelly, Ghosn's right-hand man arrested at the same time, admitted that there was such a mechanism but he told the investigators that he had "consulted the experts of the Financial Services Agency on the matter and be seen to answer that there was no problem, "Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported, without naming its sources.

Carlos Ghosn also denies "any illegal act", saying he relied on Mr. Kelly, himself a lawyer, adds the newspaper.