Ex-Nissan boss told to repay $6m in wages

Amsterdam, May 20

A court in Amsterdam on Thursday ordered fugitive former car executive Carlos Ghosn to repay Nissan and Mitsubishi almost 5 million euros ($6.1 million) in wages he received from their Dutch-registered joint venture Nissan-Mitsubishi BV in 2018.

Nissan and Mitsubishi, which ousted Ghosn as chairman of their companies and of their joint venture after his arrest for financial misconduct in 2018, claimed Ghosn had wrongly granted the wages to himself.

Ghosn had brought the case himself, demanding 15 million euros in compensation for missed wages and severance payments as he claimed Nissan and Mitsubishi had violated Dutch labour laws when they dismissed him from the Amsterdam-based joint venture in 2019.

But the district court in Amsterdam sided with the car companies, stating that Ghosn did not have a valid employment agreement with the joint venture, as it lacked the required consent of the Boards of Nissan and Mitsubishi.

The amount Ghosn needs to repay equals the net payments he received from the joint venture between April and November 2018, the court said.

Ghosn, who has denied wrongdoing, was chairman of both Nissan and Mitsubishi and chief executive of Renault when he was arrested in Japan in 2018 on charges of underreporting his salary and using company funds for personal purposes.

He fled to Lebanon in December 2019 hidden in carry-on luggage on a private jet that flew out of Kansai Airport, and has remained in that country since. — Reuters