[ad_1]
Ten days after the thunderbolt of the arrest in Tokyo of Carlos Ghosn, the details of what is blamed are clarified, with the core of the investigation a concealment of income to the stock market authorities.
Still in custody, the boss of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Motors car alliance is suspected by the prosecutor's office of having minimized his income at Nissan of one billion yen a year (7.7 million euros) on the period from April 2010 to March 2015, in public documents submitted by the company to the Japanese financial authorities.
According to a source close to the file, he proceeded knowingly because of the coming into force of a law requiring the highest paid administrators to disclose their remuneration. "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 into two parts: an amount declared, another not declared supposed in theory to be poured to him at the moment when he would withdraw from the group ", ensures this source.
"Signed documents" from his hand
The Franco-Lebanese-Brazilian would have "asked his assistants to make sure" that the revenues that were to be paid later are hidden from other divisions of the company. "Documents exist, signed by Carlos Ghosn", mentioning the various sums, which were kept in the secret secretariat. The unreported annual amounts have grown over time, reaching in 2017-2018 the sum of 1.7 billion yen, says the source.
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, Carlos Ghosn's right-hand man arrested at the same time, acknowledged the existence of such a mechanism, but told investigators that he had "consulted the experts of the Financial Services Agency on the issue and saw answer that there was no problem, "reported Thursday the daily Yomiuri Shimbun, without naming its sources. Carlos Ghosn also denies "any illegal act", saying he relied on Greg Kelly, himself a lawyer, adds the newspaper.
Fictional employment of his sister
The Financial Services Agency declined to comment. Nissan also criticizes his former boss, who was dismissed last week as chairman of the board, "the fraudulent use for personal purposes of funds". The survey mentions the existence of residences in Brazil and Lebanon bought through a subsidiary based in the Netherlands, said the source, and "several apartments for rent for the exclusive use of Mr. Ghosn ".
During his auditions, Greg Kelly explained that he was preparing the resale of the properties acquired by Nissan following interrogations by the auditors, according to the NHK public channel. The media also reported a fictitious job for his sister, who, according to them, had received about $ 100,000 a year since 2002 for counseling, of which no trace has been found.
At this stage, Carlos Ghosn is detained on one charge only (concealment of income over five years). His custody can last a total of 22 days for this single leader. But if the investigation is expanded, it could in theory be re-arrested and its detention extended.
LQ / AFP
[ad_2]
Source link
