Former Nissan Motors' chairman Carlos Ghosn is likely to be indicted once again by prosecutors on additional charges of financial fraud, next week.
Quoting sources, The Japan Times reported that Tokyo prosecutors will charge Ghosn for allegedly misusing Nissan's funds and transferring them to a distributor in Oman.
Monday will mark the last day of Ghosn's recent detention period, approved by the Tokyo District Court, and is also the deadline for prosecutors to decide whether to indict or release him.
If indicted, Ghosn's defence team will again request that he be released on bail.
On April 4, the former Nissan chief was arrested for the fourth time over allegations of misusing the company's funds for personal purposes. Prosecutors alleged that Ghosn had transferred some of Nissan's funds to his personal bank account, causing the automaker a loss of USD five million.
His re-arrest last week came less than a month after Ghosn was released on bail following 108 consecutive days in detention, during which he was indicted on charges of aggravated breach of trust and underreporting his remuneration for Nissan Motors.
Regarding the latest allegation, Ghosn's wife, Carole, agreed to pretrial questioning by prosecutors on April 11 over suspicions that the alleged transfer of Nissan funds to the Omani distributor ended with her company purchasing a luxury yacht worth 1.6 billion Japanese Yen (USD14 million) and a water scooter.
However, Ghosn has consistently denied all the allegations.
Ghosn was removed from the board of directors of Nissan Motors, along with partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, during the prolonged detention initiated by his initial arrest in November.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)