Renault to alert prosecutors over ex-CEO Ghosn’s wedding costs

Ex-Renault boss faces fresh corruption claims: Former CEO ‘was offered free Versailles wedding that would normally cost €50,000’ in sponsorship deal

  • Carlos Ghosn allegedly made a deal to have his 2016 wedding at Versailles
  • Renault said it would inform prosecutors after discovering the alleged deal
  • He was arrested in Japan last year and is awaiting trial for financial misconduct 

The former CEO of Renault is facing new corruption claims after he allegedly made a secret €50,000 deal to have his wedding at the Palace of Versailles. 

Carlos Ghosn is said to have been offered a free ceremony in 2016 after making a sponsorship deal between Renault and the historic royal palace. 

Renault said it would inform prosecutors about the alleged deal, after Ghosn was arrested last November in Japan over alleged financial misconduct. 

His subsequent indictment has led to renewed scrutiny of his management and lifestyle at Renault and Nissan while he sits in a Tokyo jail awaiting trial.   

Carlos Ghosn (pictured) is said to have been offered a free wedding at the Palace of Versailles in 2016 after making a sponsorship deal between Renault and the historic royal site

The latest charges involve Ghosn’s lavish second marriage at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris in October 2016. 

Ghosn and his new wife Carole threw a Marie Antoinette-themed dinner and party at the former royal residence complete with entertainers in period costumes.

‘We wanted it to feel as if we were inviting guests into our home – nothing too studied,’ Carole Ghosn told Town & Country magazine a few months later when it published photos of the wedding.

According to a report in the Figaro newspaper, the operators of the palace waived the usual fee of €50,000 (£44,000) fee for the reception at the 17th-century Grand Trianon complex.

It said the arrangement was made as part of a sponsorship deal between Versailles and Renault.


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The company confirmed Thursday that internal audits ‘identified that a contribution of 50,000 euros, under a sponsorship agreement signed with the Chateau de Versailles, was allocated to Mr Ghosn’s personal benefit.’

‘Renault has decided to bring these facts to the attention of the judicial authorities,’ it added.

Ghosn’s arrest and continued detention marks a stunning fall from grace for an executive widely credited with forging the Renault and Nissan alliance into the world’s top-selling automotive group.

The 64-year-old Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executive has angrily denied the misconduct charges against him, which saw Nissan and the group’s other alliance partner Mitsubishi jettison him as chairman shortly after his arrest.

Ghosn (pictured in Paris last year) was arrested last November in Japan over alleged financial misconduct and is awaiting trial 

‘I am accused of under-reporting income I never received! There is not one yen that I have received that was not reported,’ Ghosn told AFP in an interview at the Tokyo detention centre where he is being held last week.

‘Is it a trap? Is it a plot? It’s obvious: it’s a story of betrayal. There is no question about this,’ he said.

So far Renault has said its internal investigations have found that his pay was in compliance with French law.

But facing the prospect of several more months behind bars before his trial opens, Ghosn last month relinquished his grip as CEO of Renault.

The affair has also exposed rifts between Renault and Nissan, which some analysts say was bristling at Ghosn’s efforts to bring the two automakers’ operations even closer together.

Ghosn was the linchpin of the three-way alliance, earning industry plaudits for driving together a sometimes fractious threesome with headquarters 10,000 kilometres apart.

Much of the tension between the partners stems from a complex ownership structure that gives Renault 43 percent of Nissan, whereas Nissan owns just 15 percent stake in the French company – and no voting rights.

Adding to the complexity, the French state owns just over 15 percent of Renault, and government officials have said they are keeping a close eye on the alliance’s future.

‘We are being vigilant to ensure the balances of the alliance are preserved,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said last month. 

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