TOKYO—Nissan Motor Co.’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s chances of bail were derailed Friday when prosecutors cited new suspicions that he shifted personal losses to Nissan, in a move that keeps him behind bars longer.

Prosecutors said they suspected that in October 2008, in the midst of the global financial crisis, Mr. Ghosn temporarily forced Nissan to take over a personal derivative contract that was sitting on ¥1.85 billion ($16.6 million) in losses at the time.

... </s> Carlos Ghosn, the powerful auto executive who recently lost his role as chairman of Nissan, has been formally indicted on charges that he underreported his income to Japanese authorities.

The Nissan Motor Co. as well as a top aide to Ghosn also were indicted, accused of assisting in the financial misconduct, state broadcaster NHK reports.

Ghosn, who was arrested and ousted as chairman after the allegations were made last month, was detained without charges for 22 days — the maximum length allowed under Japanese law.

But he's not tasting freedom yet. In addition to indicting him on Monday, authorities also served him a fresh arrest warrant, based on their belief that Ghosn's alleged fraud lasted longer than originally believed.

That will allow authorities to detain and interrogate Ghosn for three more weeks, Kyodo News Agency reports.

Ghosn was a titan in the automobile industry. He was venerated for orchestrating a remarkable turnaround at Nissan, which was edging near bankruptcy when he took the reins. And he simultaneously led Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, arranging the three companies into a powerful, successful alliance.

Mitsubishi removed Ghosn from his post as chairman after his arrest. But his future at Renault is not yet clear.

The case has brought international scrutiny to Japan's judicial system, which has a conviction rate of more than 99 percent after indictment.

France 24 spoke to lawyer and former prosecutor Nobuo Gohara about the factors driving that astonishing figure.

" Few judges are willing to deliver an innocent verdict. And this has led to some false convictions," he said. "The biggest problem is the so-called hostage-based criminal justice system. Suspects who insist on their innocence tend to remain in custody for a long time. This is linked to Japan's high confession rate, and the assumption that a suspect who denies wrongdoing deserves to suffer disadvantage."

Even a high-profile scandal involving prosecutors caught tampering with evidence has not led to real reforms, Gohara says.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal published an editorial saying Ghosn's arrest "ought to trouble anyone concerned with due process and corporate governance in Japan."

The Journal asked why Nissan wasn't aware of the alleged financial misconduct earlier, why the "publicly available facts" are so opaque, and why this case is being handled much more aggressively than recent accounting scandals at Toshiba and Olympus.

Both the Journal and Gohara also criticized the Japanese media, which regularly publishes leaked details about alleged criminal behavior, and has continued to do so in Ghosn's case. </s> Arrest Of Nissan Chairman Threatens Future Of Alliance With Mitsubishi And Renault

Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Japan on Monday, reportedly on charges he misreported his own income. </s> TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan Motor chairman, was arrested again by Japanese authorities on Friday, this time on suspicion that he shifted more than $16 million in personal losses incurred a decade ago to the automaker.

The rearrest of Mr. Ghosn dealt a setback to his hopes for getting released from the Tokyo jail where he has been held for more than a month on different charges. It also adds to the legal problems of an executive who once oversaw a sprawling automotive global empire that sold more than 10 million cars last year.

Japanese authorities rearrested Mr. Ghosn on suspicion of breach of trust related to a financial investment that tumbled in value during the 2008 global financial crisis, according to NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Authorities said he transferred the investment, a derivative contract, to Nissan from his personal asset management company. Mr. Ghosn’s Japanese lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

The rearrest essentially gives Japanese prosecutors another chance to keep Mr. Ghosn in jail. He has been at the same detention center since Nov. 19, when law enforcement officials descended on a corporate jet after it landed and arrested him on suspicion that he underreported his compensation to Japanese authorities. </s> Nissan Motor Company’s former chairperson Carlos Ghosn was arrested again on Friday on fresh allegations that he shifted $16.6 million, around Rs 116.10 crore, in personal investment losses to the company, Reuters reported. The re-arrest means he could be detained for at least 10 more days in jail.

Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo last month on charges of under-reporting his earnings. Ghosn – a French citizen of Lebanese descent who was born in Brazil – had played a major role in the formation of a strategic partnership between Nissan, its French partner Renault and Mitsubishi Motors.

The new arrest came a day after a court in Japan rejected prosecutors’ request to extend Ghosn’s detention. It also rejected a detention extension for the company’s former Representative Director Greg Kelly, who had also been arrested in November.

Ghosn is alleged to have shifted personal trades to Nissan in October 2008 in order to avoid paying 1.85 billion yen, or $16.6 million, in losses, according to the Tokyo prosecutor.

Hours earlier, Ghosn’s lawyer Motonari Otsuru had promised to restore his client’s reputation in court. “Things as they stand are absolutely unacceptable,” Otsuru said, on Ghosn’s behalf. “I want to have my position heard and restore my honour in court.”

On November 22, Nissan’s board of directors had dismissed him as chairperson. Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors had also dismissed Ghosn from the post, while Renault replaced Ghosn with a temporary deputy chief executive on the request of the French government. The French government holds 15% stake in Renault. </s> TOKYO - Prosecutors re-arrested former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn over fresh allegations on Friday, apparently dashing his hopes of an early release in the latest twist to a rollercoaster saga.

The case of the once-revered 64-year-old tycoon has gripped Japan since he was arrested completely out of the blue as he stepped off his private jet at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on 19 November.

And in another unexpected development, Ghosn was arrested on Friday on suspicion of transferring losses from personal financial investments to Nissan, causing damage to the company’s assets, according to a statement from prosecutors.

He has already been formally charged with under-reporting his income by tens of millions of dollars over several years and faces a second batch of allegations that this continued for three further years.

However, the auto baron had had his hopes raised of being freed on bail after a court rejected a bid by prosecutors to extend his detention over the second set of allegations.

But this fresh arrest gives prosecutors 48 hours to question him on the new matter - possibly extended beyond that.

Since his stunning arrest last month, the once jet-setting executive has languished in a tiny cell in a detention centre in northern Tokyo, where he has complained about the cold and the rice-based menu.

His lengthy detention - in Japan, suspects can be “re-arrested” several times over different allegations - has sparked criticism, especially from abroad.

Ghosn has an unusually high profile for a foreign executive in Japan and was credited with turning around the struggling car giant Nissan and forging a three-way alliance with French manufacturer Renault and fellow Japanese firm Mitsubishi Motors.

He was seen as the glue holding together the fractious alliance and his arrest has exposed major rifts between Nissan - which makes the most money - and Renault, the dominant shareholder.

According to local media, Ghosn has admitted signing documents to defer part of his salary until after retirement but said this amount did not need to be declared as it had not yet been definitively fixed.

The suspicion is that he sought to defer part of his pay to avoid criticism from staff and shareholders that his salary was too generous.

Both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors promptly sacked Ghosn as chairman following his arrest, on the basis of a months-long internal Nissan investigation.

Renault has been much more cautious, keeping him on as chairman and CEO and appointing Thierry Bollore as interim boss.

In addition to charges against Ghosn and Kelly, prosecutors have also indicted Nissan, as the company submitted the official documents that allegedly under-reported his income.

On Thursday, the company pointedly declined to comment, saying it was “exclusively between the court and the prosecutors”.

It said the decision to fire Ghosn was “based on the substantial and convincing evidence” from an internal investigation.

“Both Ghosn and Kelly have violated their director duty of care,” the firm added in a statement.

Nissan has also accused its former boss of other financial impropriety, including using Nissan funds to purchase luxury homes around the world.

One of these - a luxurious, 800-square-metre spread with ocean views over Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana Beach - has become the subject of a legal battle.

Last week, Ghosn family members entered the flat, removed “personal effects” and opened the safes, according to Nissan. This followed a court order giving Ghosn’s representatives' access despite objections from the Japanese firm. </s> TOKYO – Japanese media reported Monday that prosecutors have added to charges against Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn, extending his detention following his arrest on Nov. 19.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it had filed criminal complaints against Ghosn and another Nissan executive, Greg Kelly. A commission official said Monday that Nissan, Ghosn and Kelly were suspected of falsifying millions of dollars’ worth of Ghosn’s income. In Japan, a company can be charged with wrongdoing.

The prosecutors say Ghosn is suspected of underreporting his income by 5 billion yen ($44 million) over five years. The allegations newly reported on Monday would increase that amount by 4 billion yen ($36 million).

Some kind of action by the prosecutors had been expected because the detention period allowed for allegations disclosed earlier was to end on Monday.

More: Board of Japanese automaker Nissan fires Carlos Ghosn as chairman

More: Mitsubishi Motors fires Carlos Ghosn as chairman following arrest

Kelly, 62, is suspected of having collaborated with Ghosn. Kelly’s attorney in the U.S. says he is asserting his innocence.

Both men were dismissed from their managerial roles at Nissan following their arrests.

Ghosn was sent to Nissan by its partner Renault SA of France in 1999. He led a dramatic turnaround the near-bankrupt Japanese automaker. But Ghosn’s star-level pay has drawn attention since executives in Japan tend to be paid far less than their international counterparts.

Only Ghosn’s attorneys and embassy officials from Lebanon, France and Brazil, where he has citizenship, have been allowed to visit him.

More: Nissan's Carlos Ghosn reportedly used car maker's money to buy personal homes, pay sister </s> TOKYO—Japanese prosecutors on Monday indicted former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn on charges of underreporting his compensation on five years of Nissan’s financial reports, Kyodo News reported.

In addition, Nissan as a company was indicted over the same charges, Kyodo said. A Nissan representative declined to comment. </s> Tokyo: Japanese prosecutors re-arrested Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn on Friday on fresh allegations of making Nissan shoulder $16.6 million in personal investment losses, dashing chances he would be released on bail imminently. Prosecutors also raided Ghosn’s residence in Tokyo on Friday in search of evidence, broadcaster TV Asahi reported.

The latest twist in a saga that has jolted the global auto industry and Nissan’s alliance with France’s Renault SA came a day after a Tokyo court unexpectedly rejected prosecutors’ request to extend Ghosn’s detention. That rejection had raised the possibility that the prominent businessman could go free on bail as early as Friday.

The re-arrest, however, means he could be detained for at least another 10 days in a Tokyo jail, where he has been confined since he was arrested last month on initial allegations of financial misconduct.

The Tokyo prosecutor said the fresh arrest was based on suspicions that around October 2008, Ghosn shifted personal trades to the automaker to make it responsible for 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) in appraisal losses, and inflicted damage on Nissan by having it deposit a total of $14.7 million on four occasions between June 2009 and March 2012 into a related bank account.

Also read: Carlos Ghosn got six houses from Nissan, including in Tokyo and New York

Carlos Ghosn’s lawyer, Motonari Otsuru, was not available for comment. Otsuru has previously declined to return calls about the Ghosn case.

Kyodo news agency said that when the allegation that Carlos Ghosn had shifted the paper losses first surfaced in media reports late last month, Otsuru said his client had denied the allegation. Ghosn had considered the move but did not do so after being told by financial authorities that it would be illegal, Kyodo quoted Otsuru as saying then.

The Tokyo court said in a statement on Friday that the lawyer for Ghosn’s former deputy Greg Kelly, who was arrested along with Ghosn, has requested his client’s release. Kelly’s detention extension was rejected along with Ghosn’s. The dramatic turn of events came hours after Ghosn, through his lawyer and quoted by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, vowed to restore his good name in court and to hold a news conference after his release. “Things as they stand are absolutely unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying. “I want to have my position heard and restore my honour in court.”

Also read: How Carlos Ghosn hid $70 million from the firm that paid him

Television camera crews had gathered outside the Tokyo jail on Friday morning in hopes of catching sight of Ghosn being released.

Carlos Ghosn was initially arrested on November 19 for allegedly understating his income by about half over a five-year period from 2010. Ghosn was later re-arrested for a similar alleged crime covering the past three years. The maximum penalty for both understating compensation and the latest accusation — aggravated breach of trust — is up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of 10 million yen.

Nissan said after his arrest that it unearthed multiple instances of possible wrongdoing in an internal investigation triggered by a whistleblower.

The internal probe is ongoing, and has included allegations of diverting company funds to pay for personal expenses. Sources have told Reuters that investigators have been looking into the use of an internal “CEO Reserve” fund and the role of overseas subsidiaries in alleged financial misconduct.

The Carlos Ghosn case has put Japan’s criminal justice system under international scrutiny and sparked criticism for some of its practices, including keeping suspects in detention for long periods and prohibiting defence lawyers from being present during interrogations, which can last eight hours a day.

The case also marked a dramatic fall for the leader of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance who was once hailed for rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy. Nissan Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa has since called for changes to weaken the clout of controlling shareholder Renault.

Documents seen by Reuters showed that some discussions about compensating Ghosn out of the public eye were not confined to Nissan, but also included Renault executives.

While Nissan ousted Ghosn from his role as chairman shortly after the initial arrest, Renault has so far not replaced him.

A Nissan spokesman declined to comment on the re-arrest, saying only that the internal investigation was ongoing and expanding into new areas. Renault declined to comment.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
Carlos Ghosn, formerly the chairman of Nissan, is arrested again on suspicion of shifting personal losses to the company.