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Auditor said to have questioned Nissan on payments to Ghosn

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So, now as the prosecutors begin to really dig and as media around the world are drawn to the scent of blood more and more "facts" are coming out that, in my opinion, make it even more likely that Nissan itself was totally involved and knew very well what was going on with Ghosn.

I would not be surprised that if in the near future more sheep from Nissan will be finding themselves in front of prosecutors and investigators answering questions!

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Of course the auditor would have noticed. A company as large as Nissan would have both internal and external audits and if their findings were not further investigated by Saikawa and others they should also be held accountable.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Saikawa has a lot to say about Ghosn and Kelly, but had very little to say last November when Nissan was found to have been fraudulently using unqualified workers to check vehicles, even after being ordered to resolve the issue, other than the usual crap of bowing and saying sorry. He knew what was going on internally then, and he sure as hell knew this time, too!

Investigators should arrest him on suspicion of fraud too!

10 ( +10 / -0 )

So there you have it....this should be the top story here since all others about Nissan were. Will be interesting to see how/if this is pursued. Sounds like Ghosn was also a very greedy SOB however this is not really about Ghosn

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If this information is correct, Nissan senior management and executives knew about this for some time, and by allowing it to continue, endorsed the actions by Ghosn and Co.

Sounds like they were holding out just long enough to use the intelligence as ammunition to out him... Just before the Renault Nissan merge.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

So there you have it....this should be the top story here since all others about Nissan were.

It wont because the J media is playing their part in this game too!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Well, it doesn't let Ghosn off the hook.

He was complicit.

He knew where the money was going.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Yet, it seems Ernst and Young must have approved the figures. That is an auditor's job. Will all this lead to repercussions for that company for going along with some dodgy accounting?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Not so fast, semperfi. Ghosn was hired as CEO not as a tax accountant. If he can prove Nissan's accounting department approved these financial moves he is free and clear. It is their job to read tax codes not his. I suspect Renault knows this, which is why they have not fired him. This could backfire nastily on Nissan.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Sure! The evidence will likely show a collusion within Nissan .

There will be a trail.

{Ernst & YOung performed properly raising flags about the inexplicable money trajectories}

Moreover as CEO Ghosn has to be brain-dead not to have some sense of what is happening .

Apparently, according to Kelly ( his right hand man) Kelly says he followed Ghosn's' orders.

According to foreign sources, while the house in Beirut was being built / remodelled Ghosn flew there on the Nissan private airplane at least one a month to monitor the work.

So he wasn't sleeping..

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Now Olympic scandal, that detention centre is going to be full for Christmas.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Will Goode.

Is the president of the ANOC also detained in Japan?

I though he simply stepped down.

It's tough timing, anyways.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Nissan felt the noose tightening which explains those pathetic whistle blowers trying to save their necks and Saikawa's totally in-advised and increasingly panicky counter attack. Doesn't he know he is not supposed to comment on a criminal case currently under investigation, let alone proclaim the accused guilty as (not yet) charged? Compare this with Renault's silence. Ghosn has assembled an incredible legal team. One group will get him off legally and the other will prepare the biggest civil defamation suit Japan has ever seen: Ghosn vs Nissan. Renault will be able to buy the wreckage of Nissan for peanuts. What merger?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I think EY Shin Nihon's "announcement" here is to preemptively cover their butts!! Nothing more, and a lot less!

The plot thickens!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Seems to be a case of MAD - Mutually assured destruction.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

This is all lies, who can borrow company money to buy houses?? Come on.. This is fishy, as mentioned even a pencil purchase is monitored.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Investigators should arrest him (Saikawa) on suspicion of fraud too!

Yep. It's guilty until proven guilty (and even innocent once in a blue moon) in Japan, so... seems like grounds to arrest Saikawa, no?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I can't help but notice a subtle shift in the comments from "Carlos dindu nuffin" -to- "Even if Carlos did somethin' the company must have known too".

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@Strangerland

Agreed, but this should also extend to the Nissan board. To say that they must have known is just as presumptuous as saying Carlos must have done something illegal.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So Saikawa was lying and the whole board of directors approved the compensation. Sounds like 20 days of confinement would solve this

2 ( +3 / -1 )

E&Y is the same London-headquartered company that failed to spot the Olympus and Toshiba accounting irregularities.

A program on NHK pointed out that auditors are paid by the companies they audit and cannot probe too deeply without running the risk that the company will switch to a less intrusive auditor.

Numerous Japanese commentators have pointed out that Saikawa and other top Nissan officials had to know what was going on. Some have been speculating about the level of the penalties that may be levied against Nissan itself.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Not so fast, semperfi. Ghosn was hired as CEO not as a tax accountant. If he can prove Nissan's accounting department approved these financial moves he is free and clear.

No he isn't. If you commit fraud then the mere fact that the accountants who work for you rubber stamp it isn't a defence to a criminal charge.

It is their job to read tax codes not his. I suspect Renault knows this, which is why they have not fired him. This could backfire nastily on Nissan.

This is also incorrect, and irrelevant. He isn't charged with tax avoidance, he is charged with filing false documents required by securities regulation which by law the board (which he was chairman of) is responsible for, not the accountants. He was both the CEO and chairman of the board, the buck stops with him.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Agreed, but this should also extend to the Nissan board. To say that they must have known is just as presumptuous as saying Carlos must have done something illegal.

I agree. No one here has any clue whatsoever about what happened, with any of the parties.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

With all this tv time circus, abe should pass some secret laws. Feel sorry for Kelly though, he is not top news.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Toshiba:

"Toshiba Inflated Earnings by $1.2 Billion"

"Toshiba CEO quits after company lied about $1.2 billion profits"

Nissan:

"Ghosn under-reported nearly 10 billion yen in compensation"

1 ( +1 / -0 )

RIP Japan Inc.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

This is a complete stitch up, they hate gaijin at the top of Japanese companies. Nissan are completely complicit with whatever went on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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