Carlos Ghosn resigns as Renault chairman and CEO amid scandal
The exec, under arrest in Japan, was already ousted from positions of power at both Nissan and Mitsubishi.
Carlos Ghosn is finally out as chairman and CEO of Renault .
Ghosn, who is currently embroiled in a legal battle over alleged financial misdeeds, submitted his resignation this week, Renault said in a statement. Renault's board convened on Thursday to appoint replacements, settling on Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard for chairman and former Renault COO Thierry Bolloré for chief executive.
Ghosn had been removed from his executive positions at Nissan and Mitsubishi shortly after the news broke of his arrest in November, but Renault's board didn't vote to oust him, with a report saying that the company wanted to wait until the investigation into his alleged malfeasance had completed. Bolloré had been acting as deputy CEO while Ghosn was in a Japanese jail.
Ghosn has been in detention since his arrest in November.
Nissan uncovered Ghosn's alleged "unique" accounting methods with the help of a whistleblower. The automaker claimed its internal investigation uncovered underreported compensation from both Ghosn and Nissan representative director Greg Kelly, in addition to other misconduct, such as personal use of company assets. Ghosn was arrested by Japanese authorities and has been held ever since. It's believed that Ghosn underreported tens of millions of dollars in income.
Tokyo prosecutors didn't bring charges against Ghosn until December, when they indicted both Ghosn and his employer Nissan -- under Japanese law, a company can be charged for the transgressions of its employees. Ghosn could spend upward of a decade in prison if convicted, and Nissan could end up paying a hefty fine.
Ghosn's career started at Michelin, where he progressed from a plant manager to the CEO of Michelin North America before his 40th birthday. In the late 1990s, he became an executive vice president at Renault, where he oversaw the creation of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which recently brought Mitsubishi into the fold and is now one of the largest automakers in the world.
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