Society

Ghosn 'deceived' directors to hide personal losses

Dec 24 (NHK) - Sources say former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn deceived the board of directors to obtain their approval for transferring the latent losses from his personal currency trading to the automaker.

Tokyo prosecutors served another arrest warrant on Ghosn on Friday on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust.

He is suspected of transferring the trading rights to Nissan after his asset management firm incurred unrealized losses of about 16 million dollars during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The asset management company had a contract for currency swap deals with Tokyo-based Shinsei Bank.

Sources say when the bank requested additional collateral, Ghosn proposed shifting the trading rights to Nissan.

The bank then asked him to obtain the approval of Nissan's board.

Sources say Ghosn had the board approve the plan without disclosing that it was related to his personal trading. The directors were reportedly told that a senior official at the company secretary's office, who was Ghosn's close aide, would be in charge of the currency trading.

Ghosn's lawyer quotes him as saying he briefly shifted the trading rights to Nissan, but did not cause any damage to the automaker because he shouldered the losses that were incurred during that period. The former chairman denies the allegation of aggravated breach of trust.

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