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Ghosn suspected of ordering pay ruse
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Men walk past a screen showing a news programme featuring Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo on November 20, 2018. Nissan and Mitsubishi shares plunged on November 20, as the automakers prepared to oust chairman Carlos Ghosn a day after he was arrested for alleged financial misconduct.
Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP
(AFP/Toshifumi KItamura)
N
issan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn gave instructions for his stated remuneration in annual securities reports to be kept at around ¥1 billion (US$8.8 million), The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office believes that Ghosn played a leading role in falsifying Nissan’s securities reports.
Ghosn was arrested on Monday on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law.
Ghosn allegedly conspired with Nissan Representative Director Greg Kelly to have his stated remuneration in the securities reports total about ¥4.987 billion over five years starting in fiscal 2010 — about ¥5 billion lower than the actual figure.
It has also been discovered that Ghosn is suspected of having understated his remuneration by a total of about ¥3 billion from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2017.
Since fiscal 2009, executives of listed companies who receive an annual remuneration of ¥100 million or more have been obliged to state their name, compensation amount and other data in securities reports.
Around that time, Ghosn gave instructions for the remuneration figure stated in securities reports not to exceed the ¥1 billion level, according to sources. It is believed that the instruction was given to executive officers in charge of compiling securities reports via his closest aide, Kelly.
Ghosn’s stated remuneration in the reports over five years until fiscal 2014 was around ¥1 billion annually, ranging from ¥982 million to ¥1.035 billion.
His annual compensation over three years from fiscal 2015 was also understated to around the ¥1 billion level. In reality, however, his remuneration was nearly double the amount stated in the reports in some years, the sources said.
The total amount paid to Nissan’s directors, including Ghosn, and other executives, was approved at a shareholders meeting every year, with the upper limit set at ¥2.99 billion.
Since fiscal 2009, however, the total annual remuneration paid to directors was between about ¥1.4 billion and ¥1.8 billion — about ¥1.2 billion to ¥1.6 billion lower than the approved upper limit.
At Nissan, Ghosn had the authority to decide the remuneration packages of directors. The special investigation squad, therefore, is investigating the possibility that Ghosn may have received income that could have been paid to other directors. Speech
