dChan
Anonymous ID: be3a28 April 9, 2019, 11:29 a.m. No.6110144   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0731

Source: Nissan’s secret funds were sent to ‘another pocket’

 

The Yomiuri Shimbun

An executive of an Oman car dealership told those around him that the money paid from Nissan Motor Co.’s secret fund to his company “will go into another ‘pocket,’” according to sources, implying the bank account of the automaker’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

 

The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office believes that this executive’s remark could back up claims that the Nissan funds were returned to Ghosn.

 

Between December 2015 and July 2018, Ghosn allegedly arranged payments of about $15 million (about ¥1.7 billion) from the secret Nissan fund called “CEO reserves” to this dealership, Suhail Bahwan Automobiles LLC (SBA), via a consolidated Nissan subsidiary called Nissan Middle East based in the United Arab Emirates.

 

Ghosn is suspected of sending about $5 million (about ¥563 million) of the $15 million to a bank account under the name of Good Faith Investments (GFI), a Lebanon-based investment firm that he effectively owned. Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of aggravating breach of trust under the Companies Law by causing financial damage to Nissan.

 

According to the sources, between about 2012 and 2018, Nissan paid a total of $35 million (about ¥3.9 billion), which includes the $15 million under suspicion, to SBA. The secret fund was able to be used at Ghosn’s own discretion because he was then the CEO.

In 2012 when the CEO reserves began to be used, Nissan’s headquarters directed Nissan Middle East to pay into dealerships across Middle Eastern nations including SBA from the fund “without any condition.” Nissan Middle East said it was told that the direction was based on “a top-down decision by Ghosn.”

In response, a person in charge at Nissan Middle East considered making the payments as nominal “incentives for higher sales targets of Nissan vehicles,” giving a semblance of honest disbursement. The Nissan subsidiary then asked an Indian executive at SBA to “set the target higher” so it was commensurate with the large payment. However, the executive reportedly said, “There’s no point since the money will go into another pocket,” and “That’s money we won’t touch.”

This executive joined SBA about 10 years ago and had assumed crucial posts in several affiliated companies as the dealership’s owner, who is a longtime acquaintance of Ghosn, has great faith in him, according to the sources. The executive also serves as CEO of GFI, and the prosecutors believe that this person played a crucial role in the backflow of the CEO reserves to Ghosn.

The prosecutors questioned staff in charge at Nissan Middle East and learned about remarks made by the Indian executive, but apparently have not questioned the executive yet.

A total of about $100 million (about ¥11 billion) was paid from Nissan’s CEO reserves to entities in several Middle Eastern nations. Ghosn had already been charged for allegedly improperly disbursing about $14.7 million (¥1.6 billion) of the money to an acquaintance in Saudi Arabia for helping secure a credit guarantee for Ghosn’s investment.

Ghosn has insisted that the payment of about ¥11 billion was “incentives appropriate for actual sales results” and has denied the allegations of payment.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005662704