YOKOHAMA: Nissan’s CEO will step down next week, the board said, deepening the crisis at the Japanese car giant still reeling from the arrest and ouster of former chief Carlos Ghosn’s over alleged financial misconduct.
It is yet another blow for the firm that has seen sales plunge and been forced to slash jobs since the stunning arrest of Ghosn for allegedly hiding part of his salary from official documents to shareholders.
Hiroto Saikawa will leave the company on September 16, chairman of the board Yasushi Kimura told reporters, after he admitted receiving excess pay by altering the terms of a bonus.
Saikawa is suspected of improperly adding 47 million yen ($440,000) to his compensation under a scheme in which directors can earn a bonus if their company’s share price rises above a certain level in a set period.
Nissan officials were keen to stress that there was no illegality but that he should not have delegated the task to a junior executive.
“At the end of the day, the operation which should have been carried out by the president himself was carried out, delegated to others, which is a violation of the rules,” said Motoo Nagai, a board member.
Saikawa apologised last week for the payment, while denying any wrongdoing. “I left the issue to someone else so I had thought it was dealt with in an appropriate manner,” he told reporters.
The “share appreciation” scheme has now been scrapped, the board announced.
The current chief operating officer, Yasuhiro Yamauchi, will take over as acting CEO on September 16, when Saikawa officially leaves.
The board hopes to find a permanent replacement by the end of October.
The carmaker is currently undergoing an overhaul intended to strengthen governance after the Ghosn scandal.
In June, Nissan shareholders voted in favour of various measures including the establishment of three new oversight committees responsible for the appointment of senior officials, pay issues and auditing.
They also approved the election of 11 directors as the firm restructures, among them two Renault executives as well as Saikawa. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
