Nissan has sacked Carlos Ghosn as chair for alleged financial misconduct including underreporting his income.
The Japanese carmaker formally removed Mr Ghosn from his role after an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Yokohama on Thursday.
Greg Kelly, another Nissan director who is accused of facilitating the alleged wrongdoing, has also been sacked.
The pair were arrested in Tokyo on Monday following an investigation, which Nissan says uncovered “significant acts of misconduct”.
Mr Ghosn is being detained and questioned by Japanese police about claims he failed to report up to $34.5m (£26.8m) of compensation he received from Nissan, and allegations he used company funds to purchase houses in Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Beirut and Amsterdam.
He currently maintains his senior roles at Renault and Mitsubishi, which are members of an alliance with Nissan.
Renault, where Mr Ghosn is chief executive and chairman, has appointed chief operating officer Thierry Bollore as interim boss, while Mitsubishi is set to hold a meeting next week to discuss its chairman’s future.
The scandal has put the future of the Renault-Mitsubishi-Nissan alliance in jeopardy, and delivered a blow to the share prices of all three companies.
A months-long internal investigation into Mr Ghosn’s conduct came as he was reportedly negotiating a merger between Nissan and Renault, which had angered some of the Japanese firm’s board members.
The two companies already own shares in each other, but the deal would have made the alliance irreversible – against the wishes of some senior Nissan figures who had been looking for ways to scupper it, the Financial Times reported.
Mr Ghosn’s alleged misconduct is said to have taken place between 2010 and 2015. If proven, the charges could result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years for the chief executive.
