Carlos Ghosn has been indicted on fresh charges of breach of trust.
The Tokyo Prosecutors’ Office said Ghosn is suspected of funneling $5 million of Nissan’s money to a car dealership he controlled.
The new indictment is the fourth set of formal charges made by Japanese prosecutors against the former chairman of Nissan and Renault. It comes on the day Ghosn’s most recent detention in Tokyo was due to expire.
Nissan said Monday it has submitted a complaint to the prosecutors as part of the judicial process, saying it believes it was harmed by Ghosn’s misconduct.
“[The payments] were in fact directed by Ghosn for his personal enrichment and were not necessary from a business standpoint,” the company said in a statement. “Such misconduct is completely unacceptable, and Nissan is requesting appropriately strict penalties,” it added.
Ghosn’s lawyers in Japan said they have filed a bail request, but didn’t comment further.
A spokesperson for Ghosn said in a statement that he is innocent of the charges brought Monday.
“Mr. Ghosn will continue to vigorously defend himself against these baseless accusations and fully expects to be vindicated,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Ghosn was re-arrested in Japan at the beginning of April on new charges of financial misconduct. The arrest came less than a month after he was released on bail following 108 days in custody.
Monday’s indictment means he will remain in jail unless the court agrees bail again.
The ousted executive is awaiting trial on separate charges that he understated his income for years and abused his position by transferring personal investment losses to Nissan. He denies those charges and has accused executives at Nissan of conspiring to remove him from power.