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Renault Cuts Carlos Ghosn's Pay After Arrest in Japan

Renault Cuts Carlos Ghosn's Pay After Arrest in Japan

(Bloomberg) -- Renault SA is likely to scrap the variable part of Carlos Ghosn’s 2018 compensation -- which would have been worth almost a quarter of a million euros -- after its former chairman was charged for alleged financial crimes in Japan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Renault’s board remuneration committee plans to recommend on Wednesday that Ghosn is only entitled to his fixed salary of 1 million euros ($1.12 million) for his work last year when he was also chief executive officer, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The variable portion of about 225,000 euros will be withheld, one of the people said.

A spokesman for Renault declined to comment.

Ghosn was arrested Nov. 19 in Tokyo and after spending 108 days in prison is awaiting trial on charges of transferring personal trading losses to Nissan and under-reporting his income. He has denied the allegations. While the former auto titan was ousted as chairman of Renault’s partners Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. shortly after his arrest, the French carmaker kept him at the helm until January.

Following his resignation, Renault’s board scrapped millions of euros in payouts to Ghosn. He won’t benefit from a non-compete agreement he signed with Renault in 2015 and stock-based compensation that was conditional on his staying at the company.

The latest decision on compensation comes after an internal probe by the carmaker uncovered alleged payments by Renault under Ghosn’s oversight that it has reported to French authorities, Bloomberg has reported.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Tara Patel

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