Ghosn custody extended as crisis deepens at Nissan

Japanese authorities Wednesday extended Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn's detention by 10 days, as it emerged the car giant itself could face charges over the alleged financial misconduct that laid low its once-loved leader.

Monday's stunning arrest of the millionaire auto tycoon, who is credited with turning around the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Motors alliance, sent shockwaves through the global car sector, corporate Japan and beyond.

On Wednesday, several media reported that the Tokyo district court had ordered the 64-year-old Brazil-born businessman held for a further 10 days as prosecutors step up their investigation over the alleged under-reporting of Ghosn's package by about five billion yen (USD 44.5 million).

Prosecutors had 48 hours after his arrest to either press formal charges, release him or request this 10-day custody extension to continue the probe.

The titan of the car industry is being held in a detention centre in northern Tokyo in conditions far removed from his flashy lifestyle.

"In principle, he will be all alone in a cell," lawyer Ayano Kanezuka told AFP.

"There is everything you need, heating, a bed but conditions are spartan," said Kanezuka's colleague Lionel Vincent, who also said there would be an inner courtyard with bars.

The crisis appeared to be going from bad to worse for Nissan, as the Asahi Shimbun reported that prosecutors believe the firm also had a case to answer.

Both Nissan and the authorities declined to comment.

Nissan's board will decide Thursday whether to remove him as chairman, a staggering reversal of fortune for the once-revered manager who created the three-way alliance which together sells more cars worldwide than any other automaker.

Ghosn's fate appears all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor, saying "too much authority" had been placed in his hands and lamenting the "dark side of the Ghosn era."
Paris and Tokyo have been scrambling to contain the fall-out from the arrest, with the finance ministers of both countries declaring strong support for "one of the greatest symbols of Franco-Japanese industrial cooperation."
And Ghosn won some support on the street of Tokyo, with passer-by Yoshiaki Watanabe telling AFP: "I think this is someone who was able to do what we Japanese, stuck in our ways, were not able to do."
Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, told AFP that Ghosn was "a victim of his own hubris and success."
Local media reported that Nissan's representative director Greg Kelly, who was arrested along with Ghosn, ordered other executives to "hide salaries."
Public broadcaster NHK reported that Nissan had paid "huge sums" to provide Ghosn with luxury homes in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris and Amsterdam "without any legitimate business reason."