Nissan Ghosn to spend at least 10 more days in detention

"It seems that there have been complaints against Ghosn within the company," said Takashi Inoue, general manager of Inoue Public Relations. Mr. Saikawa "is responsible for missing the false report."

Mr. Inoue said that other members of Nissan management were perhaps jealous of Mr. Ghosn, whose salary was much higher than anyone else in the company. As president of Nissan last year, Mr. Ghosn reported an income of 735 million yen ($ 6.5 million), while Mr. Saikawa had received 499 million yen (4.4 million as Director General.

Some analysts said Ghosn's compensation may have triggered an overreaction to the alleged financial misconduct.

"The Japanese media seems to be angry public against the strong compensation of CEOs to support the accusation, but the inequality in compensation between ordinary workers and class C leaders is a moral issue, not a criminal case, "said Takuji Okubo, general manager. and Chief Economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo, referring to the positions of Managing Director and CFO.

"This spectacular arrest seems excessive for what it would have done. The arrest would be justified if he avoided a considerable amount of tax to the authorities. "But, since he allegedly claimed that he had not reported any income to the corporate regulators, Mr. Okubo said," I think that sounds overkill. "

There is no current allegation that Mr. Ghosn would not have paid the appropriate taxes on his income.

Renault, the French automaker that owns 43 percent of Nissan's capital, on Tuesday named a temporary management team to fill the void left behind by Ghosn's arrest, but said Ghosn remained chairman and chief executive officer. .

The French government, Renault's largest shareholder, was cautious. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Mayor, said Tuesday that France had no evidence of the crimes that Mr Ghosn had been accused of having committed in Japan, and would not request his dismissal of the Renault Board of Directors.

The Mayor however said that Mr. Ghosn was "no longer able to lead Renault" because of his problems in Japan. Renault called Mr Ghosn "temporary disability".