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April 4 (UPI) -- Former Nissan executive Carlos Ghosn was arrested again Thursday on new charges that stem from millions of dollars that disappeared at the Japanese automaker. Ghosn was arrested for a fourth time and taken to a Tokyo jail, officials said. The new charges involve misuse of $5 million in company funds to pay a distributor in Oman, prosecutors said. That money ultimately went into a savings account controlled by Ghosn, they added.
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The activity was first discovered by French prosecutors, who notified authorities in Japan.
A spokesman for prosecutors told reporters Ghosn was arrested partly because investigators feared he might begin destroying evidence.
Wednesday, Ghosn vowed to tell the "truth" at a news conference next week. Now that he's in jail again, that seems less likely to happen.
"My arrest this morning is outrageous and arbitrary. It is part of another attempt by some individuals at Nissan to silence me by misleading the prosecutors," Ghosn said in a statement Thursday. "I am innocent of the groundless charges and accusations against me."
Before he was re-arrested, Ghosn, 65, was already facing charges he under-reported his salary at Nissan for years and abused his position to funnel personal investment losses to the company's books.
Since Ghosn's first arrest in November, he's been unable to conduct business with the global partnership he built with Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors. The automakers removed Ghosn from the three-way partnership and promised to move on without him.
