The dream of Carlos Ghosn spending the holidays outside of jail has been dashed. Early this morning in Tokyo, prosecutors re-arrested Ghosn on new charges that allege he shifted personal trades to Nissan to "make it responsible for 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) in appraisal losses," around October 2008. Prosecutors also allege that Ghosn had Nissan " deposit a total of $14.7 million on four occasions between June 2009 and March 2012 into a related bank account."
This re-arrest allows prosecutors to detain Ghosn for another 10 days to allow them to continue building their case against him. It may also hurt his chances of getting bail down the road. Lawyers for Ghosn declined to comment.
The new allegations would be in violation of Japan’s Companies Act and is seen as a more serious charge than under-reporting income. According to Bloomberg, Ghosn could be facing a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a 10 million yen fine (about $89,980).
“It’s a very serious charge. If there was a conviction, I think it would mean that there’s been a judgment that it’s more than just typical self-dealing corporate malfeasance but something that really harmed the company and was particularly malevolent in terms of the amount of planning that went into it,” said Colin Jones, a professor of law at Doshisha University in Kyoto.
Source: Bloomberg (Subscription Required)
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