Car News: Former Nissan, Mitsubishi Chairman Sues Companies For Improper Termination

Former Nissan and Mitsubishi chairman Carlos Ghosn filed a 15 million euro ($16.8 million) lawsuit in Dutch court in late June against the Japanese automakers for firing him without evidence of the allegations made against him.

“In the Netherlands, if you want to fire an executive you have to first tell him what he’s being accused of, and you have to provide him with the evidence for the accusations. Neither of those things has happened,” Ghosn's lawyer Laurens de Graaf told Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad in a report Saturday.

Nissan and Mitsubishi claim Ghosn improperly received $9 million in compensation from their joint venture.

While shaping a three-car alliance since October 2016, Ghosn served as chairman of Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motor Co., as well as chairman and chief executive of French automaker Renault SA. Days after Ghosn's November arrest in Toyko on financial misconduct violations, Nissan and Mitsubishi fired the long-time auto executive but he remained in charge of Renault after a company probe in December found no financial wrongdoing in France.

In January, Ghosn resigned from Renault, where he had served as CEO since 2005.

Renault said in June that an internal audit with Nissan linked Ghosn to 11 million euros ($12.4 million) in suspicious spending at their Amsterdam-based holding.

Ghosn, 65, who is awaiting trial in Japan, is currently under house arrest in Tokyo. He spent 108 days in jail before being granted bail in March at $4.5 million. While on bail in Japan, Ghosn was arrested again in April on suspicions he caused $5 million in losses for Nissan.

French police on July 3 conducted a search of Renault headquarters as part of an investigation that began in February into Ghosn's alleged misuse of money from a company sponsorship.

Renault in February said it would not pay the roughly 30 million euros ($34 million) Ghosn was due in deferred compensation and other benefits.