TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2020) The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau refused to recognize 1 billion Yen ($9.5 million) of Ex-Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn's spending as corporate expenses and requires the company to pay additional taxes on the sum, the Yomiuri Shimbun said on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, the funds were spent on maintenance of Ghosn's plane, as well as on renting apartments in Tokyo, Paris and Amsterdam. The tax office concluded that this spending could not be considered corporate, since it covered the personal expenses of Ghosn, which means that the company must pay 250 million yen tax on the sum.
The company, in turn, said that it would pay all additional taxes.
Ghosn, a Brazilian-born French businessman of Lebanese origin, was arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 on charges of underreporting income during his time as chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Since April 2019, Ghosn had been under house arrest and close surveillance, awaiting trial. However, on New Year's Eve he issued a statement saying that he had arrived in his home country of Lebanon. Ghosn was believed to have fled Japan by private jet presumably inside a box for musical instruments.
Japan's investigative bodies proceeded to request that Interpol issue the so-called red notice for Ghosn, which led to a court in Lebanon banning the ex-CEO from leaving the country. However, Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan so Ghosn cannot be extradited.
