The elephants in the room are the payments made to a Beirut-based entity affiliated with his son [1][2].
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-22/lebanese-...
[2] https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/automobile/renaul...
GFI (controlled by Ghosn) paid SBA (an Omani businessman, Suhail Bahwan) for "marketing incentives." At some point later, SBA paid GFI. The Japanese suggest this was a kickback scheme but 1) the fact that one firm paid another and vice versa is not ipso facto evidence of financial wrongdoing 2) if this really is a kickback scheme, why such low sums of money relative to his net worth?
The other accusation in the articles you reference is that GFI made payments to a company named "Shogun Investments", of which Ghosn's son was involved, and that he directed those funds to his own financial startup, "Shogun Enterprises", which then possibly used the funds to buy a yacht.
The first charge has no clear basis for impropriety, and the second is against Ghosn's son, not Ghosn (and btw, even if Ghosn's son did misuse investor funds -- and he denies doing so -- it wouldn't be the first startup in the world to do so).
Unless you can explain to me something I'm missing these accusations do not strike me as "the elephant in the room."
Nissan-Renault paid "overseas distributors" for services allegedly never rendered. Those funds then found their way to GFI, a Ghosn family controlled entity. This is, if true, embezzlement.
It was this finding that caused Ghosn's support at Renault to crater. It's also what prompted the French probes.
Both articles describe the transfers as misappropriations of funds. These transfers were a revelation not only to Nissan, but also to Renault. They prompted probes in both France and Japan (and likely will, at this point, in the United States), it fits a pattern of embezzlement.
Broadly speaking, if management finds their operational budget in their personal account without the Board's knowledge, that's fraud.
The Japanese criminal-justice system is deeply flawed. But allegations are made in multiple cases across multiple jurisdictions and describe seriously criminal behavior.
A lot of his complaints was that the prosecutors were leaking TONS of info but he was prohibited from replying and that he had no guarantee of a trial date.
This whole compensation thing seemed so weak. The filings disclosed what he was paid, there was no agreement to pay him more. He was keeping track it seemed like of what he felt he should get paid. I'm sure he (and many other CEO's) sometimes calculate how much they believe they should get -> maybe they propose those numbers to the board etc. How is that criminal? He wasn't paid that much if you look at it. There are .bomb scammers getting paid far more.
The other odd thing is the claim that he didn't render services. By all accounts the guy was a workaholic.
For this he's been in jail with no confirmed trial date. Given the supposedly slam dunk nature of the case why don't they go to trial on the compensation FEIL charges?
Given the specific payments aren't publicly detailed, it would be impossible to say.
> And folks said these types of payments generally got a lot of levels of approval?
This is contradicted by both Nissan and Renault's Boards. (The approvers were Ghosn and the other executive in jail in Japan.)
"Describing as" != prove. And when it comes to throwing people in jail we should strive for prove.
> Broadly speaking, if management finds their operational budget in their personal account without the Board's knowledge, that's fraud.
First, no Nissan funds were in Ghosn's "personal account." Not sure where you're getting that. The articles clearly describe GFI as an arm of Nissan directly controlled by Ghosn but that is not a personal account -- it was still a Nissan account.
Second, Ghosn's defense has been all along that others in the firm approved the transactions. Someone somewhere was clearly signing the checks -- I don't know how true this is but it is a legitimate defense.
Allegations are not proof. I can accuse you of anything -- doesn't make it true.
Ghosn may indeed have engaged in criminal activity but nothing you describe proves it, or even seriously indicates it.
Pre-trial detention is common worldwide. In this case, it was loosened. (Clearly, too much.)
> Ghosn may indeed have engaged in criminal activity but nothing you describe proves it, or even seriously indicates it
It's not proven. That was for the trial to conclude. Criminal efforts in Japan, France and elsewhere will continue.
There is a preponderance of evidence, the legal standard in most jurisdictions, for bringing charges around embezzlement. I agree the compensation charges were weak. But they weren't the bombshell.
In any case, we'll get the facts over the coming years. The Japanese case will continue. And Ghosn fleeing will likely prompt investigations in the United States, at the very least for asset seizure.
Given how conservative Japanese prosecutors are reputed to be in bringing cases in the first place and Ghosn's decision to flee , I'd bet they have reasonable evidence.
Olympus - Accounting fraud - overseas whistleblower was the one prosecuted!
Lots of other cases - Japanese CEO's doing MUCH MUCH worse face zero prison time and/or prosecution.
A lot of folks posturing here. The compensation charges - which would have been the first to go to trial if they'd ever gotten to trial (the prosecutors have been dragging things out) were laughably weak. If this is what puts CEO's in jail for years it's a total scam - 100's of japanese CEO's do this and much more. These companies are tied together every which way.
The problem is that if the super rich and powerful are allowed to blatantly show their middle finger to the law and profit, it creates distrust in government which historically resolves through revolution or nowadays in more peaceful countries resolves through election of unsavoury leaders to positions of power.
Doing a runner will probably irrevocably lose him a lot of popular support from people willing to give him the benefit of doubt no matter what PR dog and pony show he puts up. So looks like he's going to be in Lebanon for the next decade.