Japanese prosecutors indicted Carlos Ghosn on another charge of aggravated breach of trust, a Tokyo court stated, the fourth charge against the former Nissan Motor boss, which his lawyers met immediately with a bail request.
The charge came on the day Ghosn’s recent detention period was set to expire. Ghosn had been out on bail when officials arrested him for a fourth time on April 4 on suspicion he enriched himself at a cost of $5 million to Nissan Motor.
“We are confident that we have the evidence to successfully prosecute all four cases,” an official from the prosecutor’s office stated at a briefing after the indictment was declared.
Ghosn has rejected all four of the charges, which consists of understating his earning, and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup. He has alleged former colleagues of “backstabbing”, referring them as selfish rivals bent on derailing a closer alliance between Nissan and its top shareholder, France’s Renault SA.
“Carlos Ghosn is innocent of the latest charges brought against him by the Tokyo prosecutors, aided and abetted by certain Nissan conspirators,” said representative of Ghosn in a statement.
The case has revealed tensions in the Nissan-Renault alliance forged by Ghosn about two decades ago when the French automaker invested in Nissan, then on the verge of bankruptcy – a deal that gave Renault control over its bigger partner.
