Carlos Ghosn fired as Nissan chairman following arrest

Carlos Ghosn
Kiyoshi
Ota/Getty Images

• Carlos Ghosn has been removed as Chairman of
  Nissan.
• The executive was arrested in Tokyo on Monday and faces
  up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of financial
  misconduct. 
• Ghosn is an auto industry titan that headed up a major
  car making alliance between Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi
  Motors. 

Car executive Carlos Ghosn has been ousted from his chairmanship
at Japanese automaker Nissan following a lengthy board meeting in
Tokyo according to reports from NHK.

The Brazil-born Ghosn was arrested Monday following allegations
of financial misconduct linked to the underreporting of his
salary. The French national, 64, headed up a major car making
alliance of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi Motors but his arrest
has sent shockwaves through markets and forced major changes upon
the businesses. 

Greg Kelly, an American executive, has also been removed
over his role in the scandal, according to
Nikkei. 

Ghosn remains CEO and Chairman of French car giant Renault after
a board meeting Tuesday decided to retain the executive whilst
simultaneously promoting Thierry Bolloré to Deputy CEO with the
same powers. 

Prosecutors in Japan 
allege
 that
the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance chairman and CEO earned a
salary of about 10 billion yen, or $88.7 million, from 2011 to
2015, but reported only half of that. Ghosn could face up to 10
years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million yen if found to
have committed any wrongdoing.

The executive is also accused of failing to report cash
bonuses totaling about 4 billion yen ($35.6
million), according to
Asahi Shimbun. Japanese prosecutors are also looking into the
possibility of investigating Nissan over its failures to uncover
the underreporting over
the period. 

Nissan has also alleged Ghosn misused company funds,
reportedly through purchasing houses in global cities such as Rio
de Janeiro and Paris. Ghosn is a titan of the auto world known as
“Le Cost Killer” in France for taking a strong approach to
turning around struggling businesses. 

Renault and Nissan have had a strategic partnership since
1999 that later included Mitsubishi, with Ghosn, 64, acting as
chairman of all three companies while also serving as CEO at
Renault. It is a car-making powerhouse: The alliance sold more
than 10.6 million cars in 2017, which would be the most of any
single automaker in the world.