Ghosn’s income under-reporting ‘may reach $71 million’

This file photo taken on September 15, 2017 shows Renault-Nissan chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn gesturing as he addresses a press conference in Paris. (File/AFP)
Updated 23 November 2018
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Ghosn’s income under-reporting ‘may reach $71 million’

  • The Brazil-born tycoon is now reportedly set to face a new charge from prosecutors
  • Prosecutors arrested Ghosn, accusing him of understating his income

TOKYO: Nissan’s disgraced former chairman Carlos Ghosn under-reported his income by a total of $71 million — much more than initially suspected — Japanese media reported Friday.
The Brazil-born tycoon is now reportedly set to face a new charge from prosecutors, after he was sacked as Nissan chairman Thursday to top a spectacular fall from grace for the once-revered boss whose fall has stunned the business world.
Prosecutors arrested Ghosn Monday, accusing him and fellow executive Greg Kelly of understating the former chairman’s income by around five billion yen ($44 million) between June 2011 and June 2015.
But Ghosn is now suspected of under-reporting his income by another three billion yen for the following three fiscal years, the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei business daily reported.
Prosecutors are now planing to re-arrest him on charges of understating his income by a total of eight billion yen ($71 million) since June 2011, the Asahi said.
Immediate confirmation of the reports was not available.
Under Japanese law, suspects in jail can face additional arrest warrants, which can impose heavier charges.
Ghosn is also suspected of failing to report a profit of four billion yen through stock appreciation rights — a method for firms to give management a bonus on strong earnings, the Nikkei said.
Separately, the Kyodo news agency has reported that Nissan had paid $100,000 a year since 2002 to Ghosn’s sister who had no record of doing advisory work for the group.
Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said the Ghosn case is “one of the most serious types of crime” under Japan’s Financial Instruments Act, and Ghosn could face a 10-year prison sentence.
His ouster is an astonishing turnaround for a titan of the auto sector who revived the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with France’s Renault as well as domestic rival Mitsubishi Motors.
The French and Japanese finance ministers reiterated their “strong support” for the alliance at a meeting in Paris on Thursday.
In a joint statement, Bruno Le Maire and Hiroshige Seko said they both wanted “to maintain this winning cooperation.”
Asked about the fate of the alliance, Seko told reporters in Paris: “It is important for people concerned to deal with it after they agree and fully understand.”


Ukraine hosts talks with security allies in Kyiv

Updated 11 sec ago
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Ukraine hosts talks with security allies in Kyiv

KYIV: Ukraine is hosting security advisers for crunch talks on Saturday as Kyiv insists negotiations are zeroing in on a deal, while Russia claims a deadly New Year strike torpedoed the efforts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said around 15 countries would attend the talks, along with representatives from the European Union and NATO, with a US delegation joining via video link.
Leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing are expected to convene in France next week after Saturday’s talks.
The latest peace push comes after Zelensky announced in his New Year’s Eve address that the US-brokered plan was “90 percent” ready, but cautioned that important territorial issues remain.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has hit its smaller neighbor with an almost daily barrage of missiles and drones that have killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions.
Kyiv has repeatedly said Russia is not interested in peace and is deliberately trying to sabotage diplomatic efforts in order to seize more Ukrainian territory.
Russia captured the most Ukrainian land last year since launching its all-out invasion in 2022, an AFP analysis showed.
Moscow has meanwhile accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist attack” and “deliberately torpedoing” a peaceful resolution after a strike on a hotel in Kherson killed 28 people celebrating the New Year.
Moscow warned of “consequences,” but Ukraine said the attack targeted a military gathering that was closed to civilians.
AFP was not able to verify either account.

- Concessions -

After US special envoy Steve Witkoff boasted about putting peace efforts back on track in the New Year, Ukraine ordered the evacuation of more than 3,000 children and their parents from frontline settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where Russian troops have been advancing.
More than 150,000 people have been evacuated from front-line areas since June 1, according to Ukrainian Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba.
Underlining the risks for civilians, authorities in Kharkiv reported on Saturday morning that another body had been pulled from the rubble after an aerial barrage reduced multi-story buildings to smoldering heaps.
At least two people, including a three-year-old, were killed and another 19 people wounded, local officials said.
Under the current US-backed blueprint for ending the war, Ukraine would cede parts of the eastern Donbas region and agree not to join NATO.
Zelensky said last week that Ukraine has been able to wrest some concessions, notably removing the provision that land seized by Moscow’s army would be recognized as Russian.
The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometers (2,160 square miles), or 0.94 percent, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project.
This includes areas that Kyiv and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as those claimed by Moscow’s army.
That is more land than the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 square kilometers it took in the first year of its invasion.
Russia made its biggest advance in 2025 in November — 701 square kilometers — whereas the 244 square kilometers it gained in December was the smallest since March, the data showed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently told his citizens that the military intends to seize the rest of the Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian if talks fail.

- New cabinet appointees -

Zelensky has shuffled his cabinet ahead of the January 6 summit in France.
He announced on Friday that he offered the defense ministry to his 34-year-old minister of digital transformation, Mikhailo Fedorov.
Without explaining his decision to replace Denys Shmygal, the Ukrainian leader said he had proposed the incumbent “head another area of government work that is no less important for our stability.”
Zelensky also recently named Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov to head his presidential office.
Budanov will succeed Zelensky’s most important ally, Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations,” Zelensky said.
“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”
Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine.”