Ghosn: Renault might have paid for part of executive’s lavish wedding
Automaker may have paid for the location fee for the former CEO's lavish Marie Antoinette-themed wedding.
Renault has uncovered payments it believes were used to partially pay for Carlos Ghosn's second wedding, held at the Château de Versailles.
The company has discovered a sum of €50,000 ($80,000) it understands was "allocated to Mr. Ghosn's personal benefit" as part of a broader charitable donation it signed with the château.
A source has told Reuters Renault agreed to sponsor a €2.3 million ($3.7 million) renovation in exchange for €575,000 ($920 million) worth of credits with the château.
The source claims the rental fee for Ghosn's wedding at Grand Trianon palace at Versailles was deducted from the company's credits.
The alleged sum was discovered as part of an internal audit initiated after Ghosn was arrested on November 19, 2018 after landing in Tokyo.
At the time, Ghosn was chairman and CEO of Renault, as well as chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi, and chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Jean-Yves Leborgne, Ghosn's lawyer in France, has told the news wire, "Carlos Ghosn paid for all of his wedding expenses".
“The event space at Versailles was made available to him without charge, and Mr Ghosn was unaware that the use of the space would be charged against Renault’s allotted usage," Leborgne explained.
Renault says "additional checks [still need] to be carried out", but it will "bring these facts to the attention of the judicial authorities".
Ghosn is currently being held in detention in Tokyo as awaits his trial on various counts of financial misconduct, including under-reporting his salary and shifting currency trading losses to Nissan.
Lead image: "Chateau de Versaille, The Marble Courtyard" by Ninara via Flickr (Creative Commons).
2024 Toyota BZ4X FWD review
0
