Nissan Motors plans to file a civil suit against former chairman Carlos Ghosn. The suit will be filed to claim damages over Ghosn’s alleged misuse of company funds, adding to the slew of legal challenges against him. Ghosn is still Chairman and Chief Executive of Renault, Nissan’s French partner, although he has been held in a detention center in Tokyo for almost two months.
The high-profile executive has been charged with three counts of financial misconduct, and was denied his request for bail by a Tokyo court on Tuesday. The denial of bail has risen suspicions that he may remain in custody for months awaiting trial. Now, Nissan is reportedly seeking its own damages for Ghosn’s alleged use of company funds to purchase residences, make university donations, and make payments to a Saudi businessman said to have previously helped him out of financial difficulties.
Ghosn regularly spent over 100 days out of the year in transit between Nissan headquarters in Yokohama and other cities. He has residences in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and Beirut, all provided by Nissan at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. However, employees inside the company have reported that Nissan was only aware that it was paying for Ghosn’s apartment in Tokyo. Ghosn denies all charges against him.
