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Nissan files civil suit against Ghosn, seeking $91 million in damages

TOKYO — Nissan filed a civil suit Wednesday seeking 10 billion yen ($91 million) in damages from the Japanese automaker's former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. Nissan filed the case in Yokohama District Court to recoup some of the monetary damages suffered, it said, “as a result of years of misconduct and fraudulent activity" by Ghosn. The claim was calculated by adding the costs from what Nissan called Ghosn's “corrupt practices,” such as rent for overseas property, use of corporate jets and payments to Ghosn's sister, as well as costs for the internal investigation into Ghosn's alleged wrongdoings. Representatives of Ghosn said in a statement they couldn't comment as they had yet to see the legal documents. “Nissan's maneuvers continue,” they said, while noting Nissan had claimed larger damages before. Ghosn, who led Nissan for two decades and saved it from near-bankruptcy, was arrested in Japan in November 2018, and charged with underreporting his future compensation and breach of trust in diverting Nissan money for personal gain. He was awaiting trial but skipped bail and showed up in Lebanon late last year. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon, and he's unlikely to be arrested. A date had not been set for his trial, and Ghosn has said he was worried his ordeal would never end and he would not get a fair hearing. The bail conditions also barred him from seeing his wife. He has repeatedly lashed out at Japan's judicial system, where the conviction rate is higher than 99%. Japanese authorities recently issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn and three Americans, accused of helping his escape. Separately, they issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn's wife on suspicion of perjury. Ghosn has repeatedly said he is innocent, saying that the promised compensation had never been decided, and all the payments were for legitimate services. Wednesday's lawsuit by Nissan comes on top of the civil case Nissan filed against Ghosn in the British Virgin Islands in August last year. It alleged unauthorized payments, sought to regain a luxury yacht and pursued other damages, according to Nissan. Yokohama-based Nissan, which makes the Z sportscar, Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models, is also facing trial in Japan as a company in relation to Ghosn's scandal. It has indicated it will agree to any penalties. Nissan's reputation has been sorely tarnished over the Ghosn fiasco, and its sales have dropped. Nissan reports financial results Thursday.

Mitsubishi HQ raided by the Japanese government

Mitsubishi's fuel economy scandal continues to grow, and the Japanese government wants answers. According to Reuters, the Japanese Transport Ministry raided the company's headquarters and a factory in Nagoya today. This raid comes soon after the company revealed that a number of its SUVs were also being sold with incorrect fuel economy ratings. The Japanese government issued a stop-sale on those vehicles a few days ago. This raid also follows an internal investigation conducted by Mitsubishi to discover how this fuel economy scandal happened, and how the practices that led to it were able to continue for 25 years. The internal investigation revealed a few contributing factors that all fell under issues with the company's culture. There was significant pressure throughout the company to reach fuel economy targets and missing them wasn't readily accepted. Questioning decisions of management was also discouraged, and it seemed the different divisions of the company weren't working well together. The findings of this raid have yet to be revealed, but it will be interesting to see how they compare with those of the internal investigation. The Japanese Transport Ministry seems intent on preventing a repeat of this with another company considering that, according to Reuters, it "sent documents to other automakers to enforce compliance with rules for calculating mileage ." Related Video: News Source: Reuters via Automotive News EuropeImage Credit: Julien Amado / Autoblog Quebec Government/Legal Green Mitsubishi Fuel Efficiency investigation

Ghosn: Restoring Mitsubishi's reputation is biggest challenge

After news that Mitsubishi falsified its fuel economy data on every vehicle it has sold in Japan since 1991, and the tumble in the company's value that followed, the troubled carmaker has an unlikely savior. Nissan has confirmed it will purchase over one third of Mitsubishi's stock, or 34 percent. The stake is valued at $2.2 billion. Ghosn says making Mitsubishi a part of the Renault-Nissan alliance will save billions in development costs. But the merger certainly isn't without challenges. "The biggest challenge is to support Mitsubishi changing itself and growing and being profitable and restoring its reputation," said Ghosn. Nissan is a natural partner for Mitsubishi, and since the fuel economy scandal escalated from discrepancies in the data regarding Mitsubishi-manufactured, Nissan-badged Japan-market vehicles, it makes sense for the company to sweep in and save the day. Nissan itself is partially owned by Renault, and Nissan has a 15-percent stake in the French automaker. Mitsubishi's chairman, Osamu Masuko says that the merger was inevitable, that it "would have happened one day" anyway, according to the New York Times. Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both Nissan and Renault, is confident they will be able to turn Mitsubishi's fortunes around. "We have the track record to make it work", Ghosn said, referring to the Renault-funded rescue of Nissan in the early 2000s. Related Video: