Nissan bolsters taskforce to prepare for Ghosn onslaught

Carlos move was the only move left. Bully foreigners, there is always a very limit. I have seen very mean japanese in my 31 years but Carlos case is full of mean bad people. whoever it is or they are, have no right to complain. They worst bad mean low level japanese who will do anything to get paid even just 100,000 yen more a month. that means 1,200,000 yen per yen killing other people in the front seat ,who truly work have and are famous. These kind of snakes just do not see themselves in the mirror. Maybe, their mirror crashed.

Christina Murray, the former audit chief made a list of 80 Nissan employees she believed enabled alleged wrongdoing by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn

The persons that enabled Ghosn never were employed by Nissan. He never reported to anyone in the company, they all reported to him or were under, from day 1. That employees that did not prevent their boss from doing things, it's hard to reproach them, particularly about a boss that fired 40K persons.... and is today going to give a pressconf to out the whistleblowers (classy !).

Those I'd like to hear are Louis Schweitzer (he said "I won't comment", which is too easy), whoever in French political circles gave Schweitzer the order to hire Ghosn, and the board members of both Nissan and Renault (those that knew and ignored, those that did not try to know).

planned to create a committee to consider disciplining them, but Nissan quashed her plan after a leading target said it wasn’t necessary (report by WSJ)

Her plan was irrealisable, but Nissan and Renault have let go really many of their execs since Ghosn's fall. It seems those involved in the wrongdoings are no longer working with them or are preparing to leave. That includes Murray. Bolloré too and he was bitter about it.

France is notorious for government intervention in corporate affairs. The French government owns 15% of Renault with 30% voting rights.

The Japanese government should have bought a chunk of Nissan. That its alleged collusion would have been exercising stakeholder rights.

No doubt Ghosn would speak criticize as much as he can about Japanese justice and Nissan's plot at the press conference. so no wonder about it at all but can't easily take his all words. If he has good evidences and documents to be able to prove him innocent, why he escaped from Japan? It is said there are many wrongdoings Ghosn has done, Most of charges against him would be innocent but I guess he knows one of them may be guilty. That is why he escaped.

mtuffizi:

count me in not buying nissan car.

Yes, I think this negative publicity will be reflected in sales figures.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, left, meets with Takeshi Okubo, Japanese ambassador to Lebanon, at the Baabda palace in Beirut on Tuesday.

Haven't seen anything mentioned in JT articles or comments about the Lebanese govt's statement to the Mainichi on Jan 3, but the president-ambassador's meeting just seems like a waste of time. Good luck, Okubo!

Lebanon has no intention of turning former auto executive-turned fugitive Carlos Ghosn over to Japanese authorities, Lebanese Justice Minister Albert Serhan told the Mainichi Shimbun on Jan. 3.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200104/p2a/00m/0na/005000c

I can't wait for this onslaught.

Nissan will be like ghosn soon, only they will be Gone Soon, no one buying their cars, no one interested in dealing with that filthy compnay any longer, they have destroyed themselves.

Nissan is panicking, and rightly so -- they can no longer fictionalize a narrative, keep in contained, and say, "You'll Simply have to take our word for it." Ghosn is going to Spill it all, and many people will be directly named, and when Japan does absolutely NOTHING to punish them while prosecuring Ghosn for FAR less, they will have a lot of uncomfortable explaining to do. So, yeah, Nissan is now in a tight, panicked huddle, trying to figure out damage control, the excuses they can make, the scapegoats, and the amakudari jobs they may have to retreat to in some cases.

The more sympathy he gets from the media and general public, the stronger his leverage over the Lebanese government to protect him."

and this is why the prosecutors continually leak information to the press to make themselves look good and refuse Ghosn request to do the same, now they dont have him shackled hes going to squuueeeel. lol

I just noticed Ghosn's Japanese legal team came out with a very strong statement against Nissan ahead of Ghosn's press conference tonight. Perhaps they have some idea of what is coming and are releasing this in anticipation of what is to come.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-01-07/ex-nissan-boss-ghosns-legal-team-accuses-automaker-of-perversion-of-truth

This establishes the fact that Nissan makes lousy cars.... There's only one car brand I trust - Toyota all the way!

Regardless of the outcome Japan will not be seen the same. It comes at a time when Japan is trying hard to solidify its international image, especially militarily. Now the legal system is going to throw a big question mark in the international community. What is Japan? I pray for world peace.

It's been revealed in detail how Ghosn foiled the clearance of customs when he escaped. He or his collaborators knew well enough about how lax customs clearance in Japan is for private jet passengers. Even inspection of baggage is passed on, thinking that passengers won't risk their own lives by carrying explosives. 

That's really a big loophole, indeed, which will certainly be addressed with the Ghosn case as a severe lesson. 

But I think there'll still remain a bigger loophole even if this was rectified. And that is a U.S. military base, such as Yokota, Kadena or Yokosuka.

President Donald Trump used Yokota Air Base when he first visited Japan, from where he straightly went to a golf course to play golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Nancy Pelosi, former U.S. House Speaker, also used Yokota when she abruptly interrupted an international meeting before it was over, probably to avoid red tapes if she were to depart from a commercial airport.

I guess office politics and backstabbing exists on any country but what's unique to Japan is that they actively employ Gov't and prosecutor's office to achieve their aims."

Reminds me of a Tom Cruise movie like "The Firm" or "Jack Reacher".

Go for it Ghosn!!! The world is anticipating to hear the truth!!!

Nissan executives are having ants in their pants!!!

oh boy,this is such a bad publicity for Japan.

The civilized world will look with distance and suspicious their “justice” system.

Pretty shocking for a country that is a member of the G7 with a giant economy but a law system of a third world country.

Fortunately the world is opening the eyes,this news is also one of the top in the Wall Street Journal.

And tomorrow after Ghosn will make his speech more concerns will raise around the world community about the transparency of their legal system.

This scandal will only enforce the belief that Japan isn’t capable to play along in a world community and rather prefer to stay in isolation.

Japan buys a lot of the forbidden Iranian oil, lets see how that pans out under stronger US bans on Iranian products.

And Nissan executives and some politicians will do the same as always in front of media "大変申し訳ございません” .Remember Olympus scandal, Toshiba and so on ? prepare popcorn for tonight.

"The more sympathy he gets from the media and general public, the stronger his leverage over the Lebanese government to protect him." Same thing Japan always does.

What does this task force even do normally? What a waste of company money and resources.

Ghosn has argued through his lawyers that his arrest was part of a boardroom coup d'état and that top Nissan executives signed off and participated in some of the financial transactions that are now central to the charges against him.

Christina Murray, the former audit chief made a list of 80 Nissan employees she believed enabled alleged wrongdoing by former Chairman Carlos Ghosn and planned to create a committee to consider disciplining them, but Nissan quashed her plan after a leading target said it wasn’t necessary (report by WSJ)

The Japan Times article packs a bit more of a punch and sheds light on why the Japanese government has been so desperately pulling out all the stops to prevent Ghosn from speaking:

[ Ghosn says he will reveal names of Japanese officials behind his arrest

KYODO, BLOOMBERG

Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn plans to name those he thinks were behind his 2018 arrest for alleged financial misconduct, including some in the Japanese government, at a news conference on Wednesday, a U.S. broadcaster said Tuesday.

Ghosn told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo over the weekend that he has “actual evidence” and documents that will prove there was a plot to “take him out” in response to his plan to merge Nissan with its alliance partner Renault SA, the automaker’s largest shareholder, according to the report. ]

Steve Jackman • 16 hours ago

The YouTube clip ("Details emerge of Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan") accompanying this piece is extremely damning of the Japanese judicial system. In it, host Maria Bartiromo discusses the Ghosn case with Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, on her U.S. TV show Mornings with Maria on Fox Business News yesterday (Jan 6, 2020). This is the new image of Japan now in the U.S. (starting at 4:12 of this video):

Bartitomo: I've said it from the start, I've never seen a judicial esystem like this - the one in Japan. There is no due process.

Judge: There's no due process. This is a judicial system in which you're presumed guilty rather than presumed innocent, because the government wins north of 99 percent of all criminal trials...

Bartitomo: What you just said is so important. How could a system be fair if 99 percent of the people get convicted? It's just not fair.

Judge: The system is profoundly unfair. Look, this was a civil dispute over control of a corporation and whether or not it ought to have merged. To criminalize a civil dispute like this is a profound violation of basic human rights and certainly of our Western style due process...I'm saying this as someone who believes in the rule of law, but who understands that the rule of law as we appreciate it in the Western world flatly does not exist in Japan. And Ghosn and his people knew that.

Bartitomo: It especially doesn't exist if you're not Japanese. Non-Japanese Gaijin - that's how they treat people who're not from that country.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/07/national/crime-legal/ghosn-to-name-japan-names/?utm_source=Daily+News+Updates&utm_campaign=d44f404018-Wednesday_email_updates08_01_2020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c5a6080d40-d44f404018-333569363

The laughable part..... the power structures throughout Japanese Industry give those at the top tremendous non-transparent benefits. It is the Japanese answer to massive salaries like those in the West. They say their executives make nothing compared to Western execs.... but they're compensated in other ways. It is rife throughout Japanese industry. I'd be willing to bet, if you were to dissect Japan's top 500 companies, you'd find "off the books" compensation in probably 90% of them.... if not all. Japanese executives are vetted and slowly moved up over the years.... they are promoted based on their ability to cooperate and keep their mouths shut about things that are not on the books shown to investors. The higher you go.... the more dirty info you know. Till it gets to the point that you're complicit too and can't say anything yourself either way.

Some advice for Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida. Never flush a clogged toilet. It would be best to keep quiet and allow the pols to do the damage control. Or you may be swept away after the plunger is finished.

It seems Nissan can't do much about Ghosn as long as he is Lebanon. No much but Nissan evict Ghosn and his wife from the gorgeous house which Ghosn bought with Nissan's money years ago. It belongs to Nissan subsidiary. Ghosn now has serious wrongdoing on he went to Israel illegally in 2008, so Nissan may support more for anti-Ghosn lawyer in Lebanon. They may be out of Lebanon someday. If Ghosn goes to France, Renault press charge of financial misconduct of marriage in the Versailles against Ghosn. Finally they would go to Barasil.

shuck and jive is the term

Aly love the bit where his lawyer says he is disapoited but understands why he did it, " but that's a different matter" his lawyer knew knows he had no chance of a fair trial. And the MOJ and Nissans comments back that view up they are disappointed they can't hand down a guilty verdict they decided on with no evidence before the rigged trail has happened.

this is interesting!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4FSR0rQUh8

I do want to touch on something gogogo said:

Nissan are spending so much time and money on this... the government is too heavily involved and now threatening sanctions against a country....

exactly! this PROVES that the j gov were in bed with the Nissan scumbags which explains why Saikawa didn't even get a slap on the wrist for his corruption charges. This STINKS to high heaven.

Waiting for Nissan or J gov to offer a bounty, he'll soon be back.

Good God, just look how robotic the Japanese guy is sat!

Even with no evidence, hearsay cases don't go well when it's one against a mob.

Nissan are spending so much time and money on this... the government is too heavily involved and now threatening sanctions against a country....

japan is just digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole. This is going to be humiliating to the whole establishment. Way to go Ghosn!

I'll bet the shredding machines are working overtime!

Three cheers for transparency!

A company executive has stated, "Now that he has escaped, he can say anything he wants and will keep throwing mud at us until people prove him otherwise, one company executive told Reuters on condition of anonymity."

Dear Nissan executive, thank you for tipping your hand and demonstrating the real reason that Ghosn was detained for so long and was essentially under "house arrest (with some exceptions)" in Japan.

Freedom of speech is a b&^tch isn't it? After all of the "leaks" now Nissan will get a taste of their own medicine.

It will be interesting to see if we hear about collusion between Nissan and the Japanese government in all of this.

I guess office politics and backstabbing exists on any country but what's unique to Japan is that they actively employ Gov't and prosecutor's office to achieve their aims. 

Good point Jeff.

This episode has made Japan look like a third world nation.

Ambassador Takeshi Okubo discussed with Aoun Japan's "great concern" over the Ghosn case and said he is making great efforts to preserve relations between Lebanon and Japan, the statement said.

People also have concern about human right with longer detention time in Japan. Any news about this one?

Wow. Just wow. Nissan is so afraid of him speaking his mind freely that they need a task force to deal with that? Let the company-wide forgery begin!

I guess office politics and backstabbing exists on any country but what's unique to Japan is that they actively employ Gov't and prosecutor's office to achieve their aims. Something like this only happens in African warlord countries and Japan. To appease some of you, let's say it happens in Korea also LOL

Japanese prosecutors issued the warrant for Ghosn's wife Carole for perjury, Japanese media reported.

The spokeswoman said Carole Ghosn voluntarily went back to Japan nine months ago to answer prosecutors' questions and was free to go without any charges.

Yes it's pathetic his wife went back to Japan voluntarily now they arrange warrant based on those questioning.

The Nissan taskforce was set up shortly after Ghosn's arrest to deal with "anything Ghosn-related," as one source put it

Nissan now becoming focus on PR than rather their products? They think just feeding Ghosn to justice system will end their problem.

count me in not buying nissan car.

Call it the Nissi-leaks Fighto Team.

Can’t let those nasty inner details affect the bottom line!

You tried your dirty tricks Nissan.

Sorry... you failed.

Now we will hear the truth from Mr. Ghosn.

The Nissan executives are running around like headless chickens... terrified of the coming revelations.

They look like fools.

I for one will never buy a Nissan car again.

And I am making it my mission to persuade all my relatives and friends in my home country to never buy Nissan again.

Shouldn't Nissan have a task force focussed on making selling cars? Rather than paying security companies to surveillance ( and that worked out) a man who saved the company.

They seem to have lost focus, someone needs to remind them they are a car company not an arm of the government? Or maybe they are?

Nissan Motor Co has strengthened a taskforce of senior officials ahead of an expected onslaught of criticism from former chairman Carlos Ghosn 

You mean they are preparing to cover their asses knowing they are just as complicit as he was for any dirty dealings

"an expected onslaught of criticism" ?

Only in a dream.

Ambassador Takeshi Okubo discussed with Aoun Japan's "great concern" over the Ghosn case and said he is making great efforts to preserve relations between Lebanon and Japan, the statement said.

This and other recent J gov and media frantic actions indicate, to me, that they are doing damage control before Carlos speaks. They seemed worried about something. Otherwise its just another gaijin to be rid of.

I am sure GOSHN is above that and he will not try to get revenge but to shed light on the system. Names are necessary to know the extent of the rotten teams because we all know there are also good people.

Now that he has escaped, he can say anything he wants and will keep throwing mud at us until people prove him otherwise," one company executive told Reuters on condition of anonymity. 

The exact same thing ya'll did to him while he was being detained! And not to mention you just HAVE to be anonymous here because you are afraid YOU might me the target of his truths!

It seems that the executives at Nissan have something to worry about now-Ghosn is free to speak his mind!

Good on you Nissan! I can't wait to hear all the standard responses and defences they come up with. It'll start with, "I was drunk and don't remember!" Just the fact they are already going into damage control shows they must have a lot of covering up to do. All their company records should be ceased so they can't fiddle them to avoid the truth being let out about their underhanded corporate coup to oust Ghosn.