Carlos Ghosn’s Middle East adventure may cost him everything
If it turns out that Ghosn did use Nissan’s business partners in the Middle East to move millions of dollars, how did this bypass financial controls?
Tokyo — Soon after Carlos Ghosn was taken into custody last autumn, kicking off a bizarre legal odyssey that’s transfixed the automotive world, some wondered whether the financial crimes he’d been accused of were serious enough to warrant the shocking arrest of Nissan Motor’s fabled chair. Turns out that was just the opening act. The initial arrest last November — over what some viewed as a relatively minor charge of understating compensation — was a tactical move to buy time to analyse money flowing to and from Oman, according to people familiar with the matter. Additional charges followed. Nissan executives have since been co-operating with Tokyo prosecutors and received plea agreements in at least two instances, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. The ousted automotive titan is now facing far more serious charges that he enriched himself via a web of complex financial transactions involving business partners in Oman and Saudi Arabia, as...
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