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TOKYO (AP) – UPDATE:
Renault's board of directors announced that Carlos Ghosn would remain chairman of the automaker's board of directors, although he is being held in Japan for alleged use of Nissan's assets.
The board however Tuesday called Thierry Bolloré, the number 2 automaker, to replace Ghosn while he was "temporarily incapacitated."
A statement issued after a three-hour board meeting said the board was "unable to comment on the seemingly collected evidence" against Ghosn, who was arrested on Monday. Bolloré, Renault's director of operations, will lead "on a temporary basis".
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Japanese prosecutors planned on Tuesday to lay formal charges against Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn during an investigation into allegations that he abused the company's assets and underreported millions of dollars in revenue.
The arrest of Ghosn after denunciation by a whistleblower of alleged misconduct has left many Japanese stunned by the fall of a relentless cost cutter that seems to be spent tremendously for himself.
"In fact, we also have a Nissan car, so I feel a bit betrayed because it was essentially dishonest," said Noriko Handa, a housewife in her mid-fifties, while she was walking near Shimbashi Station, in downtown Tokyo.
Prosecutors said they detained Ghosn, 64, for allegedly collaborating on falsification of stock declarations and a turnover of less than $ 44.6 million from 2011 to 2015. A second Nissan executive, Greg Kelly, was also suspected of working with him.
"It is extremely unfortunate," Cabinet Secretary-General Yoshihide Suga told reporters. "We will follow developments closely."
There was no word of Ghosn himself. Prosecutors refused to say where he was being held.
Prosecutors, who reportedly arrested Ghosn after interrogating him upon arrival in a private jet at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, have 48 hours from Ghosn's arrest on Monday to decide on the day. 39, opportunity to lay charges. They can detain a suspect up to 20 days more per charge if they feel they need more time.
The scandal cast doubt on the future of Ghosn as the leader of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which sold 10.6 million cars last year, more than any other automaker .
The Nissan board was due to meet on Thursday to consider sending Ghosn and Kelly back. Earlier this year, Ghosn signed a contract that would have lasted until 2022.
Ghosn is still officially at the head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance as CEO and President. Renault announced that its board of directors would hold an emergency meeting Tuesday in response to his arrest.
French, Brazilian and Lebanese, Ghosn is also an emblematic figure of the company in France, where Renault is one of the biggest survivors of the industry. He has met several times with the last four French presidents; no major economic event in France took place without Ghosn.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Franc-Info on Tuesday that Renault should appoint a temporary officer because Ghosn is not in a position to lead the group. The Mayor said that the French authorities had found no fault in the tax situation of Ghosn in France.
Ghosn's Lebanese heritage is a source of pride for Lebanon, and in Beirut Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil issued a statement affirming that the Lebanese ambassador to Tokyo had been asked to look for "the model of Lebanese success abroad ".
He added that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry would support Ghosn to obtain a fair trial.
In Japan, where foreign executives are scarce and even the largest companies tend to be low profile, the status of Ghosn is more ambiguous.
He is admired for his turnaround at Nissan when he was close to bankruptcy and for his foresight in his efforts to bring electric and autonomous cars to the masses.
Hiroto Saikawa, president of Nissan, said at a 90-minute late Monday evening press conference that Ghosn had too much power and that society was waiting for a change.
The scandal was "a negative result of Mr. Ghosn's long regime," he said.
With few new developments, the Japanese media eagerly detailed the allegations against Ghosn.
Public broadcaster NHK stated that Ghosn was responsible for distributing compensation among Nissan's key executives and is suspected of siphoning off some of this compensation.
He is also suspected of having underpaid his share of the rent and misused the company's funds for housing he's taken in Lebanon, Paris, Amsterdam and Rio. de Janeiro, where his apartment is on the rich beach of Copacabana.
Nissan's generous remuneration for Nissan's Ghosn was only a part of its overall revenue, as it was also paid for by car alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motor Corp.
On several occasions questioned how the company could have allowed financial misconduct to persist as long, Mr Saikawa said that Nissan's internal systems limited transparency.
The charges are seriously undermining at a time when Nissan and Mitsubishi are still recovering from scandals as a result of changes in emissions and fuel consumption test results on vehicles sold in Japan.
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The authors Haruka Nuga, Angela Charlton in Paris and Zeina Karam in Beirut collaborated on this article.
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