JAPAN TODAY



 

TOKYO - Nissan Motor Co has scrapped a company rule that effectively gave its former Chairman Carlos Ghosn discretion over executive pay, following criticism it may have allowed him to engage in alleged financial misconduct, sources close to the matter said.

As part of its efforts to enhance corporate governance, Nissan made the rule change at its board meeting Monday. It set a new rule stating that the board meeting rather than the chairman will decide pay.

In a related move, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa said he met with its alliance partner Renault SA's deputy CEO Thierry Bollore in Amsterdam, the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two companies following Ghosn's arrest on Nov 19.

According to the sources, Saikawa asked for Renault's support for the Japanese carmaker's management reform efforts and reported on the latest rule change related to executive remuneration.

While the meeting was closely watched as Ghosn's dismissal from Nissan has sparked a leadership struggle with Renault, Saikawa apparently refrained from briefing Bollore about Ghosn's alleged financial misconduct, which Nissan says was uncovered by an internal probe, due to continuing investigations by Tokyo prosecutors.

Nissan, at its board meeting Monday, put off a decision to choose a successor to Ghosn, who has been arrested for allegedly understating billions of yen of remuneration in securities reports presented to Japanese regulators from fiscal 2010.

While Nissan swiftly dismissed Ghosn, who is credited with rescuing Nissan from near bankruptcy in the 1990s, Renault, the largest shareholder of Nissan, has retained Ghosn as its CEO and chairman, finding no wrongdoing at the French carmaker.
Ghosn has denied the allegations.

Tensions between Nissan and Renault appear to be growing, with the Japanese carmaker seeking to review their partnership, which it views as favoring the French company despite its lower earnings. Renault, backed by the French government, is seeking to protect its business interests and maintain its influence in Nissan.

Renault has called on Nissan to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to discuss the French automaker's representation in the Japanese company but the call was rejected, a Nissan source said Monday.

In a three-way partnership created by Ghosn, who remains its chief, Renault owns a 43.4 percent stake in the Japanese automaker, which holds only a 15 percent stake in the French automaker but without voting rights and a 34 percent in Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Mitsubishi Motors CEO Osamu Masuko also participated in the meeting in Amsterdam via video link. The capital of the Netherlands is where Renault-Nissan B.V., the company in charge of overseeing the partnership, is based.

An internal probe by Mitsubishi Motors found no financial misconduct by Ghosn in its securities reports, different sources close to the matter said Wednesday.


© KYODO