Carlos Ghosn has resigned as chief executive and chairman of Renault, according to the French government, paving the way for his successors to be announced after a board meeting in Paris on Thursday.

“Carlos Ghosn just resigned last night,” French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told Bloomberg in an interview at Davos on Thursday morning.

Mr Ghosn remains behind bars in Tokyo on allegations of financial misconduct at Japanese carmaking partner Nissan.

Until recently Renault, and its largest shareholder the French state, had kept Mr Ghosn in place as its own internal investigation had yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing and it did not want to prefigure a judgment in Japan. Nissan removed Mr Ghosn as its chair soon after his arrest last November.

However, with Mr Ghosn’s latest bail requests rejected, the French government, which owns 15 per cent of Renault, decided it was time to act since Mr Ghosn would be unable to come back to lead the carmaker in the coming months.

Renault is widely expected to appoint current Michelin boss Jean-Dominque Senard as chairman and Thierry Bolloré as chief executive, a role he had been fulfilling on an interim basis since soon after Mr Ghosn’s arrest in Japan last November.

Mr Ghosn is also expected to step down as chief executive and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Mr Senard is then expected to take over his roles, according to people close to the group.

- The Financial Times Limited