Mitsubishi alleges Carlos Ghosn received $8.9 million in illegal payments

Japanese automaker Mitsubishi on Friday alleged that ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn received 8.9 million dollars in illegal payments from a Netherlands-based joint venture between April-November 2018.

In the latest allegation, Mitsubishi provided a statement which gave details of these operations, uncovered in an internal investigation, reports Efe news.

The accusation follows other alleged irregularities in Nissan, which controls Mitsubishi. It said that the payment was made by Nissan-Mitsubishi BV (NMBV), a partnership venture set up in the Netherlands in June 2017.

The payment was done on the basis of an agreement "concluded by a person who was not authorized to do so (and) no appropriate procedure was taken to pay any remuneration to Ghosn".

It was made as remuneration on the basis of an employment agreement that NMBV and Ghosn entered into to appoint him as managing director, the statement said.

Kei Umebayashi, the lawyer who led the probe at Mitsubishi Motors, said that the testimonies during interviews with people concerned found that Ghosn created the venture for the purpose of receiving illegal remuneration.

On April 26, 2018, both Mitsubishi and Nissan had paid approximately 15.62 million euros in total to NMBV as a service fee.

According to the statement, the payment Ghosn received was "hidden" from Mitsubishi but was discovered through the disclosure of information by Nissan.

Mitsubishi also said it "will further investigate the cause and consider action to pursue liability against Ghosn in collaboration with Nissan".

Ghosn was first arrested on November 19, 2018, and his detention has been extended multiple times over additional allegations, which he has denied. He was the chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi but was removed from the positions after his arrest.

Tokyo prosecutors have accused Ghosn of under-reporting his income by tens of millions of dollars in documents to investors based on an understanding that he would receive them as post-retirement compensation as well as of breach of trust.

(with inputs from IANS)