[volkman10]

Exclusive:

Ghosn says 'plot and treason' led to arrest.

Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday that he had "no doubt" that the charges against him were the result of "plot and treason" by Nissan executives opposed to his plan for deeper integration between Renault and its two Japanese alliance partners.

Link

[GTO]

One of the whistle-blowers - Hari Nada - has his roots in India - link.

And a superb article (as always) by Bloomberg - link.

[volkman10]

Nissan to name Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard to replace Carlos Ghosn on board.

At an extraordinary board meeting on Tuesday, Nissan Motor Co. is set to decide that the new chairman of Renault SA will replace Carlos Ghosn as a member of the automaker’s top management

Link

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Nissan to name Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard to replace Carlos Ghosn on board.

Very much on the expected lines. Nissan has to appoint a director from Renault on its board and now that Renault has ousted Ghosn, his replacement will fill that position at Nissan. Let us see how things shape from now.

BTW, any news on Ghosn? I think, things have gone silent after multiple bail rejections. He will stay in jail and will appear in news only when he appears in the court

[blackwasp]

According to a media report, Nissan is averse to appointing the same chairman as the French carmaker, after Carlos Ghosn was jailed. The move comes despite an earlier arrangement between the two companies to have the same person at the top position.

Last month, Carlos Ghosn stepped down as the chairman of Renault and was replaced by Jean-Dominique Senard. Ghosn served as the chairman of both the carmakers. While Senard will be appointed to the board of Nissan, it is reported that the discussion on the position of chairman will be held only after he joins officially.

Renault holds a 43-percent stake in Nissan along with voting rights, while the latter owns only a 15-percent non-voting stake in the former. The French government holds a 15-percent stake in Renault, indirectly having an influence over Nissan. Further, as per company agreements, Renault has the power to appoint Nissan's chairman as well as the CEO.

Ghosn is currently under detention over alleged financial misconduct.



Source: Bloomberg

Link to the Team-BHP news

[volkman10]

Never ending problems for Carlos Ghosn!

New allegations now from Renault :

Renault identified an improper personal benefit tied to Ghosn’s 2016 wedding at the Chateau de Versailles, which it plans to inform authorities about. The company said Wednesday that Renault’s sponsorship of renovations at Versailles also covered the rental of the Grand Trianon palace for Ghosn’s 2016 wedding reception, a value of €50,000 ($56,700).

In a separate development, Nissan has said that it is also going to include the undeclared remuneration of 9 billion yen ($82 million) to Ghosn in its earnings report next week but that it will also freeze payments to the former executive

Nissan is also considering filing a damages suit against Ghosn for other financial misdeeds including purchases of luxury homes. Nissan is also facing a civil investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of whether its executive pay disclosures were accurate and whether Nissan had adequate controls to prevent improper payments.

French media is also reporting that Ghosn founded a €30 million fund in Switzerland in 2018 that might have been a pretext for him to move his tax domicile there from the Netherlands.

Source:

[GTO]

^ True. The more I read about the case, the more I'm convinced that he used the company accounts inappropriately for personal expenses. He treated Renault-Nissan as if they were his personal companies! I use my company too for personal expenses sometimes, but I own 100% of it.

That said, I still don't agree with keeping him in jail for so long. He's not a murderer or terrorist. Release him on bail, keep him in Japan and put him on trial.

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by GTO

That said, I still don't agree with keeping him in jail for so long. He's not a murderer or terrorist. Release him on bail, keep him in Japan and put him on trial.

Me neither. Since it was not a criminal offense i was expecting that he would already be granted bail, this is where I learnt more about the Japanese system. Below is a video by WSJ that i found to be informative:

https://youtu.be/i6Yt81muZCw

[kavensri]

One more article about Japanese legal system, which also mentions why people prefer to 'confess' than otherwise.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47113189

[volkman10]

Carlos Ghosn reloads his legal team - give it a harder edge and hired a lead lawyer nicknamed “The Razor” to run it.

Confronting a legal system with a 99 percent conviction rate, Ghosn overhauled his legal team last week. He replaced a group led by former local prosecutor Motonari Otsuru with one overseen by Junichiro Hironaka, who is known for aggressive tactics defending high-profile clients such as a former senior bureaucrat accused of corruption. Hironaka will hold his first news conference as Ghosn’s lawyer on Wednesday.

By hiring a lead lawyer nicknamed “The Razor,” Ghosn is betting that an attorney with a history of challenging the insular Japanese legal world can make him a free man again.

Source:

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by GTO

^ True. The more I read about the case, the more I'm convinced that he used the company accounts inappropriately for personal expenses.

That’s is often a problem with senior executives who live and breathe work 24x7. Happened to one of my senior colleagues outside India - used to work 100+ hour weeks 50 weeks a year, was paid several millions, but ultimately was fired over a few thousand dollars worth of inappropriate expenses. What Ghosn did is probably a firing offense - it certainly is not a criminal one in any reasonable legal system.

What happened here of course is surprising in multiple ways. 1) Ghosn was allowed to determine his own salary and perks as opposed to everything being laid out in a contract approved by an independent committee of the Board - I have seen such behaviour in mid size Indian companies about a decade ago(which also now have at least a rubber stamp compensation committee in place). 2) That failing to disclose compensation accurately is a criminal offense with a potential 10 year jail term. The guys convicted for the 1993 bomb blasts got similar terms in India 3) That a developed country like Japan that you think of as a liberal democracy has a judicial system that is more reminiscent of a tinpot dictatorship - where prosecutors can hold an accused in jail and legally question him for months on end without the presence of his lawyers. 4) The 99% conviction rate - which is proof of an unfair judicial system 5) How Japan protects its own - Japanese companies have endangered people’s lives (Takata, Toyota), violated pollution control norms, had fraudulent accounts for years (Toshiba) - I have not heard of senior executives being jailed without bail for all of this. And Ghosn is in jail for months without trial.

Let’s be clear - this is a stitch up, telling the Gaijin where to get off.

I use my company too for personal expenses sometimes, but I own 100% of it.

I would delete that if I were you. Even if you own 100% of a company, you can’t use it for personal expenses unless you are either paying tax on perk value as an employee, or treating it as a deemed dividend and the company is paying tax if you are a shareholder.

[libranof1987]

He's been granted bail after 107 days in detention. Things should get interesting now that he is out and can flex his financial/political might, if there's much left.

A Tokyo District Court on Tuesday said it has approved Nissan ex-chairman Carlos Ghosn’s release on 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) bail.

Ghosn, has been held at a detention center since his arrest on Nov. 19.

Last month, Ghosn hired Junichiro Hironaka, a lawyer famous for winning extremely rare acquittals in Japan.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/to...osn-2019-03-04

[GTO]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

He's been granted bail after 107 days in detention.

Nice to hear! Punish him after he's found guilty, not before. Ghosn has some very strict conditions to live with, but he's lucky to be out before the pre-trial. That almost never happens in Japan.

Ghosn better prepare himself for the fight of his life.

[volkman10]

Carlos Ghosn: former Nissan chairman released on bail in Tokyo.


Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, centre, walks out of detention in Tokyo following his release on bail.

Live TV footage showed Ghosn, dressed in a dark blue uniform, light blue baseball cap and surgical face mask, being escorted out of Tokyo detention centre by several officials and taken to a silver van. Reports said that a car from the French embassy had arrived at the detention centre, as media helicopters swirled overhead.

The Frenchman, who was born in Brazil and is of Lebanese descent, is thought to have been driven straight to his residence in the Japanese capital where he must live under strict bail conditions until his trial begins, possibly not for several months.

Source:

[volkman10]

The mastermind behind Ghosn's dramatic bail release and disguise.

- Takashi Takano, part of an “ All-Star” defense brought on after Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA’s former chairman fired his first attorney, convinced the Tokyo District court and Ghosn himself to accept the strict terms of his bail after two failed attempts.

- Like a scene from a movie, he disguised his client as a construction worker and whisked him away to his office in Akihabara, Tokyo’s neon-lit electronics district.

The 62-year-old lawyer is a colorful figure in Japan’s legal circles, known as a contrarian with a willingness to take on tough cases, including a mass murder

Once Takano got to work, it took less than 48 hours after Ghosn’s third bail request was granted for him to be released, with the prosecutor’s appeal rejected and 1 billion yen ($9 million) in bail paid

Ghosn was hustled out of the gray, drab Tokyo Detention Center with the multitude of cameras trained on him hardly noticing. The former jet-setting executive was dressed in a blue uniform, cap and surgical mask. He slipped into a silver van with the guards and drove away, with watchers assuming it was one of the staff going home. A few lucky — or possibly tipped off — media outlets caught his exit and followed the vehicle.

More on the movie-like drama:

To pick up Ghosn, the bearded Takano arrived in jeans, sneakers and a flat cap, looking more like a grandfather running an errand. Social media was abuzz with his resemblance to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The Suzuki van that picked up Ghosn, made to look like a maintenance vehicle with a ladder on top, is registered in Saitama — a prefecture northwest of Tokyo where Takano has roots and built his law career

The strict bail conditions that Ghosn agreed to — such as camera monitoring and restricted mobile phone and internet access — may have been the deciding factor in his release

Link