Japanese prosecutors may launch a new criminal case against the ousted chairman of the Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Carlos Ghosn for allegedly understanding his salary by 3 billion yen ($27 million) between 2015 and 2017, the Japanese Asahi newspaper reported on Friday.
The reports come after Nissan Motor confirmed on Thursday that its board of directors dismissed Ghosn as its chairman and also voted to remove the representative director of Nissan's board Greg Kelly.
Both Ghosn and Kelly could get up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 10 million yen, or both for filing a false financial statement.
Ghosn, who has been acting as chairman of all three automobile giants, was arrested in Japan on Monday. The chairman and the senior executive Greg Kelly are suspected of underreporting Ghosn's income, while Nissan said that Ghosn also used the company's assets for personal purposes. The chairman may also have failed to report around 5 billion yen (about $44 million) between 2010 and 2015.
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which was founded in 1999, is the world's leading car manufacturer, having sold over 10.6 million vehicles in 2017, according to the alliance's official website.