Earlier this week, Nissan filed a civil suit against their former Chairman, Carlos Ghosn, to the tune of 10 billion Yen (AU$135 million) alleging damages that came “as a result of years of his misconduct and fraudulent activity” at a Yokohama District Court.
Ghosn, who currently resides in Beirut following his highly-publicised escape from Japanese custody, denied any wrongdoing and issued a statement in response to the allegation which reads,” Nissan’s manoeuvres continue: this complaint is made public on the eve of the Japanese group's financial results. We note that after months of announcing damages of 35 billion yen (AU$474million), Nissan is now claiming 10 (billion Yen) at the moment. Mr Ghosn's lawyers will react on the merits of the case once the content of the claim has been brought to their attention."
Furthermore, Nissan said in a statement that the 10 billion Yen figure was derived from “funds linked to fraudulent payments made to or by Ghosn as outlined in Nissan’s statement of September 9, 2019, including the use of overseas residential property without paying rent, private use of corporate jets, payments to his sister, payments to his personal lawyer in Lebanon, resources and costs related to Nissan's internal investigation into Ghosn and his misconduct, legal and regulatory costs”.
However, this isn’t the first civil suit that Ghosn is involved in with his former employer, as Nissan initiated a suit against the Brazilian-born executive in the British Virgin Islands on August 30th 2019 “where unauthorized payments and transactions were processed through special purpose entities, seeking the title of a luxury yacht and/or damages and other relief.”
According to a report by Autocar, it has emerged that Nissan is also contemplating bringing on charges of defamation against Ghosn following the remarks he made at a press conference in Lebanon. “My unimaginable ordeal is the result of a handful of unscrupulous, vindictive individuals,” he said at the time.
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