The Mitsubishi Motors board rejects Ghosn

The board of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Yesterday announced that its boss, Carlos Ghosn, had been fired as a result of a similar action by Nissan after being accused of financial irregularities, thus ending the commercial process that saved the Japanese company. Mitsubishi announced that its managing director, Osamu Masuko, would temporarily assume the role of president.

After his sudden arrest last week, a French-Brazilian businessman of Lebanese origin begins his second week in a detention center in Japan for concealing part of his income of $ 44 million during years. He is also accused of having exploited the property of the company for his benefit.

The board members of the company said in a brief statement that it was "difficult" to keep Ghosn in power after his arrest a week ago in Tokyo. After an emergency meeting of senior executives at Mitsubishi Motors in Tokyo, which lasted more than an hour, the company announced: "At the meeting of the board of directors, it was decided to send Ghosn back to the presidency of the board of directors ".

Ghosn yesterday denied any concealment of his income and embezzlement of which he was accused. When questioned, he did not use his right to remain silent and stated that he had no intention of concealing any income, according to the report.

Mitsubishi Motors' decision came a few days after a similar decision by Nissan last week in a sudden reversal of Ghosn's life, supposed to have succeeded in changing the fate of Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi.

"After reviewing a detailed report of an internal investigation, the board of directors voted unanimously to dismiss Carlos Ghosn for the presidency," the administrators said.

Ghosn's assistant, Greg Kelly, described as the brain responsible for alleged infractions, denied the charges, reporters said, pointing out that Ghosn's salary had been paid correctly. In a letter to staff, Heroto Saikawa, Nissan CEO, expressed "dissatisfaction and disappointment". During a 45-minute meeting at the company's headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, which was relayed internally to other sites, Seikawa pointed out that the scandal should not affect the day-to-day activities of the company. giant company.

"I am very disappointed and disappointed that I can not express it," he told the staff. The difficulty now lies in seeking an appropriate alternative to the direction of the tripartite alliance: the charter of the alliance, based in the Netherlands, indicates that Renault appoints the general manager and chooses Nissan to replace him.

"The truth is that they are already looking for an alternative, and doing so would be irresponsible.This must be acceptable to the Japanese and French," said a source close to the Paris file told AFP.

Investors seemed to recover from the first shock caused by the arrest of Ghosn, which had resulted in heavy losses of shares of the three companies. With the closing of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Nissan gained 2%, while Mitsubishi Motors gained more than 3% before the board meeting.