Cita:Statement of Carlos Ghosn

Your Honor,

I am grateful to finally have the opportunity to speak publicly. I look forward to beginning the process of defending myself against the accusations that have been made against me.

First, let me say that I have a genuine love and appreciation for Nissan. I believe strongly that in all of my efforts on behalf of the company, I have acted honorably, legally, and with the knowledge and approval of the appropriate executives inside the company — with the sole purpose of supporting and strengthening Nissan, and helping to restore its place as one of Japan’s finest and most respected companies.

Now I would like to address the allegations.

1. The FX Forward contracts

When I first joined Nissan and moved to Japan almost 20 years ago, I wanted to be paid in U.S. dollars, but was told that that was not possible and was given an employment contract that required me to be paid in Japanese yen. I have long been concerned about the volatility of the yen relative to the U.S. dollar. I am a U.S. dollar-based individual - my children live in the U.S. and I have strong ties to Lebanon, whose currency has a fixed exchange rate against the U.S. dollar. I wanted predictability in my income in order to help me take care of my family.

To deal with this issue, I entered into foreign exchange contracts throughout my tenure at Nissan, beginning in 2002. Two such contracts are at issue in this proceeding. One was signed in 2006, when the Nissan stock price was around 1,500 yen and the yen/dollar rate was around 118. The other was signed in 2007, when the Nissan stock price was around 1,400 yen and the yen/dollar exchange rate was around 114.

The 2008–2009 financial crisis caused Nissan’s shares to plummet to 400 yen in October 2008 and to 250 yen in February 2009 (down more than 80% from its peak) and the yen/dollar exchange rate dropped below 80. It was a perfect storm that no one predicted. The entire banking system was frozen, and the bank asked for an immediate increase in my collateral on the contracts, which I could not satisfy on my own.

I was faced with two stark choices:

1. Resign from Nissan, so that I could receive my retirement allowance, which I could then use to provide the necessary collateral. But my moral commitment to Nissan would not allow me to step down during that crucial time; a captain doesn’t jump ship in the middle of a storm.

2. Ask Nissan to temporarily take on the collateral, so long as it came to no cost to the company, while I gathered collateral from my other sources.

I chose option 2. The FX contracts were then transferred back to me without Nissan incurring any loss.

2. Khaled Juffali

Khaled Juffali has been a long-time supporter and partner of Nissan. During a very difficult period, Khaled Juffali Company helped Nissan solicit financing and helped Nissan solve a complicated problem involving a local distributor - indeed, Juffali helped Nissan restructure struggling distributors throughout the Gulf region, enabling Nissan to better compete with rivals like Toyota, which was outperforming Nissan.
Judge Yuichi Tada and spectators sit in a courtroom ahead of a court hearing on a case of ousted Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo, Japan, January 8, 2019. Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via Reuters

Juffali also assisted Nissan in negotiating the development of a manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, organizing high-level meetings with Saudi officials.

Khaled Juffali Company was appropriately compensated - an amount disclosed to and approved by the appropriate officers at Nissan - in exchange for these critical services that substantially benefited Nissan.

3. The FIEL Allegations

Four major companies sought to recruit me while I was CEO of Nissan, including Ford (by Bill Ford) and General Motors (by Steve Rattner, the then-Car Czar under President Barack Obama). Even though their proposals were very attractive, I could not in good conscience abandon Nissan while we were in the midst of our turnaround. Nissan is an iconic Japanese company that I care about deeply. Although I chose not to pursue the other opportunities, I did keep a record of the market compensation for my role, which those companies offered me if I had taken these jobs. This was an internal benchmark that I kept for my own future reference - it had no legal effect; it was never shared with the directors; and it never represented any kind of binding commitment.

In fact, the various proposals for non-compete and advisory services post-retirement made by some members of the board did not reflect or reference my internal calculations, underscoring their hypothetical, non-binding nature.

Contrary to the accusations made by the prosecutors, I never received any compensation from Nissan that was not disclosed, nor did I ever enter into any binding contract with Nissan to be paid a fixed amount that was not disclosed.
PG&E shares plunge on bankruptcy worries

Moreover, I understood that any draft proposals for post-retirement compensation were reviewed by internal and external lawyers, showing I had no intent to violate the law. For me, the test is the “death test”: if I died today, could my heirs require Nissan to pay anything other than my retirement allowance? The answer is an unequivocal “No.”

4. Contribution to Nissan

I have dedicated two decades of my life to reviving Nissan and building the Alliance. I worked toward these goals day and night, on the earth and in the air, standing shoulder to shoulder with hardworking Nissan employees around the globe, to create value. The fruits of our labors have been extraordinary.

We transformed Nissan, moving it from a position of a debt of 2 trillion yen in 1999 to cash of 1.8 trillion yen at the end of 2006, from 2.5 million cars sold in 1999 at a significant loss to 5.8 million cars sold profitably in 2016. Nissan’s asset base tripled during the period.

We saw the revival of icons like the Fairlady Z and Nissan G-TR; Nissan’s industrial entry into Wuhon, China, St. Petersburg, Russia, Chennai, India, and Resende, Brazil; the pioneering of a mass market for electric cars with the Leaf; the jumpstarting of autonomous cars; the introduction of Mitsubishi Motors to the Alliance; and the Alliance becoming the number one auto group in the world in 2017, producing more than 10 million cars annually. We created, directly and indirectly, countless jobs in Japan and re-established Nissan as a pillar of the Japanese economy.

These accomplishments - secured alongside the peerless team of Nissan employees worldwide - are the greatest joy of my life, next to my family.

5. Conclusion

Your Honor, I am innocent of the accusations made against me. I have always acted with integrity and have never been accused of any wrongdoing in my several-decade professional career. I have been wrongly accused and unfairly detained based on meritless and unsubstantiated accusations.

Thank you, your Honor, for listening to me.

(09-01-2019, 10:09)RSport escribió: No caerá esa breva.

(12-01-2019, 12:35)DILINGER escribió: Vamos, que te torturan hasta que confiesas para dejar de sufrir.

Ese 99% de condenados es posible que no pase en ningún país del mundo.

(12-01-2019, 17:22)RSport escribió: Yo sólo espero que Renault se haga con el control total de Nissan. Es lo que se merecen, perder por completo su independencia y pasar a depender de la empresa que les salvó y a la que tan poco han agradecido su supervivencia

(12-01-2019, 15:55)IST escribió: También es el pais con la criminalidad más baja del mundo.

No digo que las prácticas sean buenas, sino que no podemos tomar las cifras de otros países como referencia comparativa. Japón es un país incomparable, para lo bueno y para lo malo.

(12-01-2019, 15:55)IST escribió: También es el pais con la criminalidad más baja del mundo.

No digo que las prácticas sean buenas, sino que no podemos tomar las cifras de otros países como referencia comparativa. Japón es un país incomparable, para lo bueno y para lo malo.

(12-01-2019, 22:45)Magu escribió: Da para peli.

(12-01-2019, 20:25)Jaymz escribió: Sin olvidar que hay pena de muerte, que probablemente ayude a mantener una criminalidad baja

(13-01-2019, 01:24)Phoenixgris escribió: Como en USA?

(13-01-2019, 01:24)Phoenixgris escribió: Como en USA?

Cita: Bruno Le Maire, Ministro de Economía, anunció en una entrevista concedida a Bloomberg que Carlos Ghosn renunció la noche del miércoles al jueves. Ghosn ha estado encarcelado en Japón durante más de dos meses bajo sospecha de no informar a las autoridades del mercado de valores japonés una parte de sus ingresos de Nissan. Varias solicitudes de libertad bajo fianza fueron rechazadas

Ghosn facilita así el proceso de sucesión. La Junta de Directores de Losange se reunirá este jueves por la mañana para nombrar una nueva administración. Jean-Dominique Senard debería convertirse en presidente y Thierry Bolloré sería el director general.

(24-01-2019, 11:23)DILINGER escribió: Pues yo acabo de leer que ha dimitido.


He ido a la fuente y...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-01-24/ghosn-resigned-from-top-job-at-renault-last-night-france-s-le-maire-says-video

Lo dice justo al principio del vídeo, "Carlos Goshn, just resigned last night". Carlos Goshn acaba de dimitir la pasada noche.

(24-01-2019, 11:56)A.P.M. escribió: Vale, lo entendi mal. Pense en resigned como reasignado
Al final era normal, sin poder dirigir nada, Renault estaba sin cabeza, necesita alguien que la controle...

(31-01-2019, 09:43)RSport escribió: Pues quitándose de en medio a Ghosn dudo que vayan a conseguir evitar la fusión, si acaso acelerarla

(31-01-2019, 10:16)RSport escribió: Cuéntame más

Cita:Ghosn says Nissan executives used 'plot and treason' to halt Renault integration: Nikkei

TOKYO (Reuters) - Carlos Ghosn said Nissan executives opposed to his plans for closer ties with automaking partner Renault SA resorted to “plot and treason” to disrupt them and were behind the financial misconduct allegations against him.

Speaking to the Nikkei newspaper in his first media interview since his arrest on Nov. 19, Ghosn said he had discussed plans to integrate the companies with Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa in September.

But Nissan executives employed “plot and treason” to uproot those plans, Ghosn said.

Ghosn, who spearheaded Nissan’s turnaround two decades ago, had pushed for a deeper tie-up between Nissan and Renault, including possibly a full merger, despite strong reservations at the Japanese corporation.

He remains in detention following his arrest and indictment on charges related to breach of trust and understating his salary.

His arrest has clouded the outlook for closer ties between Nissan and Renault, along with Mitsubishi Motors Corp, the third member of the automaking alliance

Since his arrest, Saikawa has said it was not the time to discuss revising the partners’ complex capital ties. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have dismissed him as chairman, while he has resigned from the helm at Renault.

Ghosn denied accusations of improper payments to a company run by a Saudi businessman, saying the payment had been approved by a Nissan executive.

Ghosn also called accusations by both Nissan and Mitsubishi that he received nearly 8 million euros in improper payment through a Dutch-based joint venture of the two automakers “a distortion of reality”, and argued his luxury residences in Rio de Janeiro and Beirut were approved by Nissan’s legal department.

Nissan has said it was not aware that it had paid for many of Ghosn’s properties. On Wednesday, a spokesman said that the company was unable to comment on Ghosn’s legal defense.

Ghosn, in the 20-minute interview, denied that his tenure at Nissan had been a “dictatorship”.

“People translated strong leadership to dictator, to distort reality” for the “purpose of getting rid of me,” he said.

Ghosn added that his health was fine, and that he wouldn’t flee if freed on bail.

Meanwhile, NHK reported that Saikawa plans to hold his first face-to-face discussion with new Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard on the sidelines of an alliance meeting in the Netherlands on Thursday.