Ghosn has reduced part of its income knowingly, according to a source close to the record

Carlos Ghosn, accused by the Revenue Floor of Tokyo of concealment of income, knowingly minus, from 2009, a part of his remuneration after the entry into force of a law obliging him to divulge the integral 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.

(Read also: Case Carlos Ghosn: what future for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi?)

The Franco-Libano-Brazilian would have "asked his assistants to ensure" that the income that was 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, adds the same person. 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.

In addition, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Thursday that the Tokyo prosecutor wants to extend the detention of the businessman. Tokyo's deputy prosecutor had previously told the press that he could not say whether the detention of Carlos Ghosn would be extended. Such an extension would be in accordance with Japanese law, Shin Kukimoto said, adding that it would not be a problem.
Carlos Ghosn's 10-day holding period will end on Friday. The Japanese public prosecutor's office may request authorization to extend the detention for up to 10 additional days, after which it will have to decide whether to indict or release him.

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