No other details were provided by the French minister, nor any official announcement was made by Renault. A board meeting is scheduled for later on Thursday to decide what comes next.
Ever since Ghosn’s arrest last year, and somewhat opposing the actions of alliance partner Nissan, Renault has stood by its leader, demanding hard evidence about his misconduct. At the time, the French asked Nissan “to provide all information in their possession arising from the internal investigations related to Mr. Ghosn.”
As accusations against Ghosn continued to mount, the French government, which holds a 15 percent stake in the carmaker, stepped in and asked for the removal of the once iconic industry figure.
It’s unclear what percentage of Ghosn’s “resignation” was voluntary, but his departure opens the way for new leadership to be appointed for both Renault and the alliance as a whole.
Temporarily, Renault is headed by Thierry Bolloré, the company’s chief operating officer, while the alliance lacks a de facto leader. Last week, a French delegation visited to Japan to discuss ways to move forward, but no official announcement on the status of the negotiations was made.
As for Ghosn, he is still behind bars and is facing a 10-year sentence if found guilty of some of the charges brought against him.
Initially, the executive was arrested for underreporting his compensation to the Tokyo Stock Exchange and was subsequently accused of other illegal or immoral acts, including personal use of company, assets, aggravated breach of trust, and misuse of company funds.
Leave a Reply