Carlos Ghosn the former chief of Nissan who has been detained in Tokyo on charges of financial misappropriation has been given a longer sentence by the court though his co-accused was released on bail last week. Ghosn has already been detained for more than six weeks and will be held for another 10 days without bail. Besides the previous charges of under-reporting his salary details and using company funds for purchasing personal property prosecutors have now accused him of shifting financial losses from his personal investments into a subsidiary of Nissan at the height of global crisis in 2008.
The former CEO of three automobile firms namely Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, has been arrested on multiple charges and is being held without bail as prosecutors are continuing to build fresh cases against him. Due to the new extension of his detention Ghosn would remain in jail till 11th January without bail. He will be barred from seeing regular visitors till the 1st of January though he can meet his lawyers and consular officials. The first accusation of under-reporting income which he allegedly carried out with the assistance of another senior Nissan executive Greg Kelly was done between 2010 and 2015 and it carries prison term of 10 years.
The detention of Ghosn has shaken the roots of the alliance between all the three automobile firms and though he has been removed by Nissan and Mitsubishi, Renault has retained him on its payrolls. Ghosn is a French citizen and has till now not given any public statements to the press against the allegations that could be to avoid complicating his defense. His lawyer Motonari Otsuru affirmed last week that his client is innocent and his honor will be restored during the trial hearing. While Nissan’s spokesperson stated that no comments can be made as the matter is under trial and investigations are still on.
