Nissan Chairman Ghosn, executive charged for underreporting pay

TOKYO — Tokyo prosecutors have charged Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn, another executive and the automaker itself for allegedly underreporting income.

The charges imposed Monday involve allegations Ghosn’s pay was underreported by about $44 million over five years. The prosecutors had said earlier that the allegations were behind Ghosn’s Nov. 19 arrest.

The prosecutors added a new set of allegations Monday against Ghosn and Greg Kelly, the other executive, of underreporting another $36 million for more recent years. Nissan as a company was not mentioned in the latest allegations.

In Japan, a company can be charged with wrongdoing.

Some kind of action by the prosecutors had been expected because the detention period allowed for the allegations disclosed earlier was to end on Monday.

Kelly, 62, is suspected of having collaborated with Ghosn. Kelly’s attorney in the U.S. says he is asserting his innocence.

Ghosn has not commented.

Ghosn has been ousted as Nissan chairman and Kelly lost his representative director title, following their arrests, but they both remain on the board.

Ghosn, 64, was sent to Nissan by its partner Renault SA of France in 1999. He led a dramatic turnaround of the near-bankrupt Japanese automaker. But Ghosn’s star-level pay drew attention since executives in Japan tend to be paid far less than their international counterparts.

Only Ghosn’s attorneys and embassy officials from Lebanon, France and Brazil, where he has citizenship, have been allowed to visit him.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it had filed criminal complaints against Ghosn, Nissan and Kelly. A commission official said Monday that Nissan, Ghosn and Kelly were suspected of falsifying reports on millions of dollars’ worth of Ghosn’s income.