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Nissan's governance committee says Ghosn had too much power

42 Comments
By YURI KAGEYAMA

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42 Comments
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If Nissan thinks this is governance everyone is laughing and shareholders should be extremely worried.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Looking to make excuses, and keep Ghosn as the fall guy, plain and simple!

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Let’s build a balloon, trial by misdiagnosis of corporate governance hahaha

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Problem is identified. Totally agree.

-10 ( +4 / -14 )

It’s not like it was a one man Gosuke takeover. Remind me - Who was it that hired Ghosn?? Who was it that gave him why power he had in the first place??

6 ( +8 / -2 )

This is not Ghosn's fault; this is the fault of the Nissan Board of Directors. The Board could have prevented this (as a matter of fact it is their duty to the shareholders to prevent this).

The entire Board of Directors of Nissan should be relieved of their positions.

We still do not know if Ghosn is guilty of anything or innocent as there has been no trial.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

Tokyo-Engr, you are right. That is why Ghosn has a chance to settle the case.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Stating the obvious is supposed to make us say, "aaahhh...?" There should be a complete house cleaning at the top including Saikawa. Incompetence and if not that, then professional negligence. Stockholders should be up in arms. Whose hanko is on the internal and external audits since Ghosn became CEO/

7 ( +8 / -1 )

"Too much power". Funny thing, I can NOT recall anyone complaining a few years back, when Nissan was in the gutter.

11 ( +14 / -3 )

thanks for bailing us out when we were incompetent and in the toilet but now too much power...

9 ( +12 / -3 )

It may be true that Nissan needs better corporate governance and too much power was concentrated in the Chairman position.

And, as a general matter, better corporate governance and better oversight by the Board of Directors is always desirable. This has always been a complaint about Japanese companies by many foreign investors.

HOWEVER, that being said, this feels a lot like J mgmt using some corporate governance, etc. as a smokescreen to cover for their real intent. Which is to reduce the Renault influence in Nissan, expel the foreigners from day-to-day management, and ensure that Saikawa & Co. have full control of Nissan going forward, not Renault.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

More rhetoric just trying to clean Nissan's dirty name in the public mind, lots more to follow. Keep repeating a point of view will eventually make it part of the publics view point its a tried and tested formulae called propaganda.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

So, it would seem the only thing Ghosn is guilty of is, Nissan's mistake giving him complete control of the company and its assets and financial management. I remember him being instated very well and he was given complete control over Nissan. He closed a few plants and fire a few hundred workers to turn the company around. He then instigated the rebirth of the Fairlady. He did exactly what he was employed to do with the power he was given. I have no doubt he will be acquitted. He should never have been arrested in the first place. He may very well have abused his position of managing finances. However, that was left to his discretion by the people who appointed him chairman. They are just blaming him for their own mistake.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

The link below is an interesting perspective of the legal aspects of this case. It is from the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan magazine (Acumen).

https://bccjacumen.com/hostage-justice-case-closed/?utm_source=Custom+Media+clients&utm_campaign=mso-japanese-justice-system-1903

This is a Reader's Digest version of the story of Nobumasa Yokoo who was caught up in the Olympus scandal. He was lower down on the totem pole so he did not get the white glove treatment the high level Olympus executives received (i.e. completely suspended sentences). Yokoo-san is not connected and thus he will do some time.

I have been in Japan for a couple of decades and have been doing business here longer than that. I can see the connection between the two cases.

IThe Olympus executives committed actions much worse than what Ghosn is accused of (and much different). The similarities in the cases are how the "wagons were circled" and the outsiders (Woodford and even Yokoo-san) were left outside the circle to either to fend for themselves or be fed to the wolves.

As for Nissan; I believe these constant articles or statements we see coming from Nissan on this subject are part of ensuring the "wagons remain circled" and Ghosn remains outside.

I will be quite interested in following the trial

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Nissan shareholders should feel at ease that two 85 year old oyajis wearing rolex's will bring their governance into the 21st century.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Does the committee mean white wash in Japanese?

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I don't get it. Misconduct because too much power?

Surely, if Ghosn is acting within the bounds of power endowed by the board onto him, then no wrong doing has occurred, ie he is empowered to do so.

I get it if the board said 'we never authorised him', or 'we never gave him the power'.

It gets stranger by the day.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Maybe..that is the reason why your Nissan almost bankrupt before when Carlos take over because your corporate governance is weak or no check and balance a basic accounting procedures.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

That's rich. These are the same dinosaurs that had been making decisions that ran Nissan into the ground before Ghosn pulled it out of its economic nose dive.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Tokyo-Engr - thanks for that link.

But I wish you hadn't. Gotta start work and I'm fuming.(grrr!)

Read a lot about the Olympus fiasco, but first time to hear about this.

Japan's feudal judicial system worked for the Masters in years long gone, but in this digital 21stC with info available to all mortals, it has been exposed for the crock it is.

I've never been a great proponent of gai-atsu - external pressure - as it can be misdirected, but in the case of Japan's Hostage Justice system, I hope international media has a field day with this in the upcoming Ghosn trial.

Unless they get "bought" out before.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Confirmation of a useless committee and a useless board more like. We'll see constant slander until trial . Nissan doesn't realize that they are showing their own incompetence not Ghosn's.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Seems to me that Ghosn didn't have any power at Nissan that the company didn't willingly give him.

And for all the time Ghosn was in charge of Nissan, none of this was ever apparently a problem. Not until he started talking about merging Nissan and Renault.

The timing of all of this really stinks.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

Long live Ghosn!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

We call it passing the buck, they call it wielding too much power, its semantics, not a crimal case, back to English Classes for you lot.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

if it SMELLS like Fish it's FISHY...

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Yeah? Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Fallacy by creating drama and negativity..

Look he worked hard and earns his credentials as the best businessman in Japan, for more than 20+years in Japan to create a business success story from a company belonging in a garbage dump.

These salty loser old men want to destroy the fabric of what makes success Oh and cause his foreign..

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Yet till now, many months later, CFO and accounting team never questioned 'evidence' was not there, fabrication to ouster the foreign alliance, that's how backwards the old generation mentality goes way back to Tokugawa era mentality. If you don't know much about that era if out history, please Google it.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If no one has figured out this scam to defame, destroy and break up the foreign alliance then I suggest to remove your rose colored glasses

6 ( +7 / -1 )

.

".....the problems were caused ..... by an individual manager involving pursuit of personal gain"

.

Exactly.

.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

.

Nissan beginning the choreography of defining it's independence itself from Renault.

.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

.

@expat

.

WHO made the decisions to illegally use company money for personal investments/ gain?.

.

No one was holding gun to ghosn's head forcing him to misappropriate funds..

.

It was his duplicitous scheming choice.

.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Nissan's Governance Committee.  Like a chocolate teapot.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

First of all, after reading this article, It seems Nissan is a worthless company that never have any directions until Carlos Ghosn arrived. All the people ,who was in Nissan before Carlos Ghosn time were incompetence in operations. This confirm in the minds of share-holders that Nissan is just useless in everything. Even treating their pass chairman in the correct way. All I can see in the findings of Nissan is .................any excuses to get rid of Ghosn is fine with Nissan. May I ask , what abt saikawa ???. He did nothing wrong ??? just because he is Japanese ???.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The end of Nissan. How can a business be run by unanimity? They don't know which way to turn. This is why they hired Ghosn in the first place. Oh well, I think weve seen our better days. We'll be back here in a decade. If not with Renault with someone else..the Chinese.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Nissan's governance committee says Ghosn had too much power

I think it's more the case that the Nissan Board (who seem to have the mentality of the world has been put here just to serve and service us) has bitten into more than it can chew.

Hence, these irrelevant statements. What everybody wants to know is what crime HAS he committed, not what crime the board THINK that he has committed.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

hammer down that proverbial nail...

3 ( +4 / -1 )

More rhetoric just trying to clean Nissan's dirty name in the public mind, lots more to follow. Keep repeating a point of view will eventually make it part of the publics view point its a tried and tested formulae called propaganda.

And even Japans Kenpetai style prosecutors go along with it while Japans rubber stamping judges get taken in by it.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The end of Nissan. How can a business be run by unanimity? They don't know which way to turn. 

Well, I got a small victory in the last couple of days. I successfully persuaded some friends of mine in my native country not to buy a Nissan.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Read today's Wall Street Journal article instead of this lame Associated Press article. Saikawa admitted (probably when he was drunk) that the main motivation against Ghosn was to make sure the French did not take over Nissan or continue control over Nissan. The corporate governance story is a silly illusion fostered by the Japanese oligarchy elite.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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