Nissan plans to fire Carlos Ghosn over ‘misconduct’

Japanese car giant Nissan has proposed removing chairman Carlos Ghosn from his post over financial misconduct claims.

The firm said it had been conducting an internal investigation for several months which showed Mr Ghosn had been under-reporting his pay package.

"Numerous other significant acts of misconduct" including "personal use of company assets", were also found.

According to Japanese media reports Mr Ghosn has been arrested in Tokyo, although that has not been confirmed.

"Nissan deeply apologises for causing great concern to our shareholders and stakeholders," the company said.

The firm said it had been providing information to the Japanese Public Prosecutors Office and would continue to do so.

Nissan said it also planned to oust senior executive Greg Kelly, who had been "deeply involved" in the misconduct.

As well as being chairman of Nissan - whose car plant in Sunderland is the UK's largest - Mr Ghosn is also chairman and chief executive of Renault and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors.

In addition, he is chairman and chief executive of the RenaultNissan-Mitsubishi Motors strategic alliance. Shares in Renault fell sharply after the news, dropping almost 13%.

Mr Ghosn has been a titan of the motor industry for nearly 20 years. The Brazilian-born boss was responsible for a dramatic turnaround at Nissan in the early 2000s when the car firm was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Dubbed the "cost-killer" in the 1990s for slashing jobs and closing factories, his reputation was cemented after his strategy succeeded.

• His hero status was so big that his life was serialised in one of Japan's famous cartoon comic books

• Mr Ghosn says his background left him with a feeling of being different, which helped him

adapt to new cultures

• In France he was known as Le Cost Killer, a comment on the deep cuts he made to revive Renault

• He was once tipped as a potential president of Lebanon, a move he eventually dismissed because he already had "too many jobs"

• In a 2011 poll of people the Japanese would like to run their country Mr Ghosn came seventh, in front of Barack Obama (ninth)