Nissan Motor Co was preparing for a board meeting on Thursday to remove Chairman Carlos Ghosn after his shock arrest in Japan, a move that could deepen uncertainty around its 19-year alliance with Renault.
The dispute has shaken the Franco-Japanese partnership, which was expanded in 2016 to include Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors. Ghosn, 64, was accused of financial misconduct after his arrest on Monday, and the fallout quickly spread across the group he helped shape.
Ghosn had been one of the alliance’s central architects and had pushed for a closer integration, including the possibility of a full Renault-Nissan merger. That idea had backing from the French government, but it faced strong resistance inside Nissan.
As the crisis widened, Japan and France were due to hold talks in Paris on Thursday. Finance ministers from the two countries were expected to discuss ways to steady the alliance and limit further damage.
Renault had not moved to dismiss Ghosn, even though he remained in detention alongside Representative Director Greg Kelly, whom Nissan also accused of financial misconduct.
A senior Nissan official said the company’s priority was the future of the alliance. “For me, the future of the alliance is the bigger deal,” the official told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s obvious that in this age, we need to do things together. To part would be impossible.”
The board meeting was expected after 4:00 p.m. local time, or 0700 GMT, at Nissan’s headquarters in Yokohama. The company was likely to issue a statement afterward, according to the official, who asked not to be named because the details were confidential. Renault executives were expected to join by video conference.
Nissan said on Monday that an internal investigation, triggered by a tip-off from an informant, had found wrongdoing by Ghosn. The company said the misconduct included personal use of company money and under-reporting of his earnings for years.
Japanese prosecutors said Ghosn and Kelly conspired to understate Ghosn’s compensation at Nissan over five years from 2010, putting it at about half the actual 10 billion yen.
Neither Ghosn nor Kelly had commented on the allegations, and Reuters said it had not been able to reach them.
On Thursday, The Asahi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed sources, that Ghosn had instructed Kelly by email to make false statements about his remuneration. The paper said prosecutors likely seized the emails and could use them as evidence.
The Yomiuri, Japan’s largest-circulation daily, also cited unnamed sources in reporting that Nissan’s internal probe found Ghosn had instructed, since 2002, that about $100,000 a year be paid to his elder sister for a non-existent advisory role.
Nissan shares were flat ahead of the board meeting, moving in line with the broader market.
