Ghosn used joint venture between Nissan, Mitsubishi to inflate pay: Lawyers

Ghosn, the former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on financial misconduct charges but fled to Lebanon last December.

Company News : Carlos Ghosn, the fugitive former auto executive, used a joint venture between Nissan and Mitsubishi to inflate his pay, effectively clawing back a cut to his declared wages, and to cover a personal tax debt, lawyers for the companies said on Monday.

Ghosn, the former chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, was arrested in Japan in 2018 on financial misconduct charges but fled to Lebanon last December.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, including concerning the way he was compensated.

Nissan and Mitsubishi have been pouring over payments made to Carlos Ghosn from their Dutch-based joint venture, and had already challenged a salary and bonus worth 7.3 million euros which they claim he granted himself without the knowledge of their respective boards.

In new arguments submitted to a Dutch court on Monday, lawyers for the firms alleged Ghosn awarded himself that compensation to offset a cut in his declared earnings at Nissan.

Ghosn - who was under public scrutiny in Japan and France over his wages during his tenure, though he has argued since that other auto industry bosses were paid far more - had agreed to cut his pay when stepping down as Nissan CEO in April 2017.

He stayed on as chairman, and also had the top job at Renault.

Representatives of Ghosn's legal team said the allegations of unknown or unjust payments were unfounded.

"We don't dispute that Mr Ghosn received a good salary", attorney Roeland de Mol said. "But he had the heavy task of getting French and Japanese companies to cooperate. He didn't retire to go play golf after he stepped down as Nissan CEO."

Mitsubishi offices raided in Germany over suspected diesel emissions fraud

A spokesperson for Mitsubishi Motors in Japan on Wednesday confirmed the raid on its German distributors as well as on its European research and development facilities.

German prosecutors have raided 10 business premises as part of a probe into suspected diesel emissions cheating involving Mitsubishi cars, the latest fallout from the so-called "dieselgate" scandal.

Frankfurt prosecutors said they had opened a fraud investigation against senior employees at "an international car group", two international car suppliers and a car dealership.

The probe focuses on Mitsubishi diesel vehicles with 1.6- and 2.2-litre engines that were given Germany's highest Euro 5 and Euro 6 ratings depending on their adherence to emissions standards.

"There is a suspicion that the engines are equipped with a so-called shutdown device" that makes them appear less polluting in lab tests than they actually are on the road, the prosecutors' statement said.

A spokesperson for Mitsubishi Motors in Japan on Wednesday confirmed the raid on its German distributors as well as on its European research and development facilities -- also based in the country.

"Mitsubishi Motors will of course collaborate and contribute to this investigation," the spokesperson told AFP, declining to offer further information.

On the Tokyo stock exchange, Mitsubishi shares were swamped by selling at the opening bell, delaying an initial price. When the stock was eventually traded, it was down 4.62 percent at 433 yen.

The Mitsubishi probe is the latest twist in the dieselgate scandal that erupted in 2015 when the Volkswagen group admitted to installing software in 11 million vehicles worldwide to dupe pollution tests.

Automobile

Top Nissan exec Jun Seki announces exit abruptly, to join EV maker Nidec

The company's shares fell 3.1% to 633 yen, the lowest since 2011, as of the close Wednesday in Tokyo.

Nissan Motor’s third-highest-ranked executive is planning to leave the company to join a leading electric-motor company, an abrupt move that deals yet another blow to the scandal-plagued Japanese carmaker. The shares fell to their lowest in 8 years.

Jun Seki, the vice chief operating officer in charge of Nissan’s performance recovery, plans to join Japanese manufacturer Nidec Corp. as president and COO. The 58-year-old, who confirmed the move to Bloomberg News, was among the contenders to be Nissan’s chief executive officer in October, but missed out to Makoto Uchida, most recently the company’s China chief. Seki only took up his current position in December.

Nissan has seen its share of executive departures since last year’s shock arrest of former longtime chief Carlos Ghosn, but Seki’s exit stands out because he was part of a triumvirate set up to disperse leadership responsibilities at the automaker, Japan’s third largest by output. The defection marks yet another distraction for Nissan, which is struggling to recover from the chaos unleashed by Ghosn’s arrest and an industry downturn, with profits at a decade-low and relations tense with French partner Renault SA.

The departure of Seki, who spent most of his career in engineering and manufacturing at Nissan, comes at a precarious time for the company and the auto sector, with established carmakers seeking scale through consolidation as a way of splitting the billions of dollars in investments needed to keep up with the shift toward electric and self-driving cars.

The company’s shares fell 3.1% to 633 yen, the lowest since 2011, as of the close Wednesday in Tokyo. The shares have slid 28% this year, compared with a 19% gain in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Nidec climbed 0.3%.

Nissan has accepted Seki’s decision to leave the company, the carmaker said Wednesday in a statement, adding it will continue to focus on key areas including business transformation under the new management. Shiro Ikushima, a spokesman for Kyoto-based Nidec, declined to comment. Read More