Only a day after he took to Twitter to reveal that he was ready to "tell the truth" about his alleged financial misconduct while running the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance, Carlos Ghosn was arrested early Thursday at his home in Tokyo on new suspicions of financial misconduct.
It comes just a month after he was released on bail to await a trial on allegations of underreporting income with financial regulators and transferring personal investment losses onto Nissan's books. It also comes a day after Renault said there were some suspicious expenses made by Ghosn in its own books.
The latest arrest is thought to center on allegations of funds worth $15 million being transferred from Nissan by Ghosn for private use starting in 2015, the BBC reported Thursday. He can now be held for up to 20 days without charge.
“My arrest this morning is outrageous and arbitrary,” the embattled executive said in a statement. “It is part of another attempt by some individuals at Nissan to silence me by misleading the prosecutors."
Ghosn was originally arrested on November 19 and granted bail on March 6. He has so far denied all allegations and said in his first court appearance in January that he always acted "honorably and legally."
Rumors have swirled that Nissan executives potentially set Ghosn up for failure as he proposed merging Renault and Nissan. Ghosn even suggested that Nissan executives ousted him in fear of a merger. Nissan has also blamed its former chief for a lack of corporate governance and accused Ghosn of having too much power that made it hard for internal watchdogs to find suspicious activity.
