Former Nissan boss charged with financial misconduct

Prosecutors in Japan have charged Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan chairman, with under-reporting his income by tens of millions of pounds.

#UPDATE Carlos Ghosn formally charged with financial misconduct for under-reporting his salary and re-arrested on fresh warrant on separate allegations, reports say https://t.co/NoGsTgNLAG pic.twitter.com/sdakpDstLu

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 10, 2018

Nissan has issued a statement regarding the charges against the company, Ghosn and ex-director Greg Kelly.

“Today, Nissan Motor former representative director and chairman Carlos Ghosn and former representative director Greg Kelly were indicted for violating the Japan Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, namely making false disclosures in annual securities reports. Nissan, as a legal entity, was also indicted for the same violation.

“Nissan takes this situation extremely seriously. Making false disclosures in annual securities reports greatly harms the integrity of Nissan’s public disclosures in the securities markets, and the company expresses its deepest regret. Nissan will continue its efforts to strengthen its governance and compliance, including making accurate disclosures of corporate information.”

Ghosn, Kelly and Nissan Motor have been formally indicted with making mis-statements in Nissan’s annual security reports over a five-year period from 2011 to 2015. Ghosn and Kelly were then immediately served with fresh arrest warrants – alleging they did the same thing from 2016 to 2018.

Nothing has been heard directly from Ghosn since his detention on 19 November.

However, Ghosn’s defence team says the accusations against him are invalid because they do not relate to his salary – but to future payments that Ghosn was expected to receive after he retires.