Ghosn, the former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on financial misconduct charges but fled to Lebanon last December.
Company
News : Carlos Ghosn, the fugitive former auto executive, used
a joint venture between Nissan and Mitsubishi to inflate his pay,
effectively clawing back a cut to his declared wages, and to cover a
personal tax debt, lawyers for the companies said on Monday.
Ghosn,
the former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi
alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on financial misconduct
charges but fled to Lebanon last December.
He
has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including concerning the way he
was compensated.
Nissan
and Mitsubishi have been pouring over payments made to Carlos
Ghosn from their Dutch-based joint venture, and had already
challenged a salary and bonus worth 7.3 million euros which they
claim he granted himself without the knowledge of their respective
boards.
In
new arguments submitted to a Dutch court on Monday, lawyers for the
firms alleged Ghosn awarded himself that compensation to offset a cut
in his declared earnings at Nissan.
Ghosn
- who was under public scrutiny in Japan and France over his wages
during his tenure, though he has argued since that other auto
industry bosses were paid far more - had agreed to cut his pay when
stepping down as Nissan CEO in April 2017.
He
stayed on as chairman, and also had the top job at Renault.
Representatives
of Ghosn's legal team said the allegations of unknown or unjust
payments were unfounded.
"We
don't dispute that Mr Ghosn received a good salary", attorney
Roeland de Mol said. "But he had the heavy task of getting
French and Japanese companies to cooperate. He didn't retire to go
play golf after he stepped down as Nissan CEO."
