Nissan punishes more mgrs after 10,000-hour Ghosn investigation

Nissan Motor has revealed more details of an exhaustive probe into Carlos Ghosn, a week after its fugitive former leader accused the Japanese carmaker of being behind the plot to have him arrested.

The report on the investigation, submitted to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, found that many others were involved in improprieties besides its former chairman, with those involved located both in Japan and overseas. Three people in senior roles were punished for their involvement, though their names, titles and specific steps to discipline them were not revealed.

The misconduct outlined in the report was not just limited to acts allegedly committed by Ghosn and executive Greg Kelly, but included excess salary paid to Ghosn’s successor, Hiroto Saikawa, who was ousted as CEO in September. The report found six others also received excess compensation via stock appreciation rights, though did not identify them. The amount involved totaled 57.7 million yen ($525,000), though Nissan expects most of that amount to be repaid by March.


“A wide variety of misconducts had been committed over a long period of time,” the report said, noting that “many people were involved and the misconducts were committed not only in Japan but also in foreign countries”. Nissan will decide the punishment for others in due course, it said.

The investigation involved more than 10,000 hours of analysis, including the collection of 9 million documents and interviews with more than 70 people within the company. Ghosn and Kelly were not among them, Nissan said.

“Although Nissan is presenting this improvement report to the stock exchange and promising to rebuild its business and be more transparent, the current movements of Nissan’s management look like the exact opposite,” said Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities in Tokyo. “That’s the biggest problem.”