France’s finance minister has said Carlos Ghosn cannot remain in charge of Renault, after the leading figure in the global car industry was arrested on Monday by Japanese prosecutors.
“Carlos Ghosn is no longer in a position where he is capable of leading Renault,” Bruno Le Maire told France Info radio. “Renault has been weakened, which makes it all the more necessary to act quickly.”
The Renault board is meeting on Tuesday and Le Maire urged the group, in which the French government has a 15% stake, to set up an interim management structure. Le Maire said he had asked French tax authorities to examine Ghosn’s affairs and they had found nothing of particular note.
Ghosn is accused of having understated his income and was exposed by a whistleblower in a move that shocked the automotive industry.
A towering figure in the sector in recent decades, the French-Brazilian executive forged an alliance between France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan and Mitsubishi that created the world’s second-largest car manufacturer. He is chairman of Nissan, chief executive and chairman of Renault, and chairman of Mitsubishi.
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