French car giant Renault said Monday it was filing a civil claim for damages against former CEO Carlos Ghosn over alleged financial misconduct.
“Renault has filed a legal action to assert its rights” the company said in a statement, adding that it reserved the right “to solicit damages with interest” from an investigation into numerous claims of financial misconduct in France.
On December 29, former Nissan, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn, who was under house arrest facing charges of diverting millions in company funds for his personal use, walked out of his house in Tokyo wearing a hat and a surgical mask.
Lawyers for Brazilian-born Ghosn, who jumped Japanese bail in December and is now in his native Lebanon, on Friday delayed a lawsuit seeking a hefty retirement payout for their client from Renault, saying the company had not given them enough time to prepare arguments.
Ghosn is seeking a 250,000 ($270,000) retirement payout, which Renault refuses to pay because it says he was forced to quit after his shock November 2018 arrest in Japan on multiple charges of financial wrongdoing.
The former industry titan claims he retired in due form of his own accord.
He faces a French inquiry into two parties he threw at the Palace of Versailles, including his opulent 2016 wedding, allegedly financed in part by Renault funds.
A party for his 60th birthday two years earlier, replete with musicians, a top chef, period costumes for attendees and a firework display ostensibly to mark 15 years of the Reault-Nissan alliance allegedly cost 530,000 euros.
Ghosn is also under investigation by France’s tax fraud office over suspicious financial transactions between Renault and its distributor in the Gulf state of Oman, and over contracts signed by Renault and Nissan’s Dutch subsidiary RNBV, the public prosecutor said last week.
In Japan, he still faces multiple charges including a claim he under-reported millions of dollars in salary as chairman of Nissan.
He has denied all the charges but fled while on bail before he could face trial.