Nissan directors meet to pick chairman

Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Co.’s independent board members were expected to meet on Tuesday to select Carlos Ghosn’s successor as chairman, with their choice to replace the arrested car titan an indicator of the direction the automaker’s alliance with Renault will take.
The most likely successors fall on each end of the spectrum: Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa, who has emerged as a driving force behind the investigation into Ghosn’s financial reporting, and Toshiyuki Shiga, a former Ghosn confidante, people familiar with the situation have said. The independent directors have already said they will choose an existing board member as the next chairman. Nissan’s board is due to vote on their choice on December 17.
At stake is the direction of the world’s biggest car alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., as differences surface among the companies that Ghosn’s leadership held together.
The embattled executive, who was arrested on November 19 in Tokyo on allegations by Nissan of under-reporting his income and misusing company money for personal use, will likely be re-arrested next week as prosecutors add a fresh claim, people familiar with the investigation said.
Saikawa’s ascent to the position of chairman would solidify his power at Nissan, which wants to push for a more equitable partnership with Renault in their alliance after Ghosn’s ouster. The balance of power at Nissan is now tilted towards Saikawa, who has turned from a former Ghosn protege into one of the most vocal critics of his alleged wrongdoing. Shiga’s selection would likely result in more collective management of Nissan.
Renault is the largest shareholder of Nissan and has voting rights in the company. Nissan is the second-largest shareholder in the French company, but has no power to vote. That has created an imbalance which has worsened over the years with Nissan’s success in markets like China and the US, where the French carmaker is absent.
Nissan has rejected external chairman candidates suggested by Renault, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.
A Nissan representative declined to comment on the directors’ meeting and the chairman candidates.
Ghosn was dismissed as chairman of Nissan on November 22 in a stunning downfall for the jet-setting executive. While Mitsubishi also ousted Ghosn, Renault refused to remove the 64-year-old as CEO, and instead named an interim leader.
Ghosn has denied any rules were broken around deferred compensation, people with direct knowledge of the case said. The executive postponing income until retirement is said to have become a focus of the investigation. Ghosn’s defense is that the amount of such compensation wasn’t certain, and therefore it was appropriate to omit it from securities filings, they said.
Prosecutors are saying they haven’t had enough time to investigate and hear from Ghosn, and thus need to detain him longer, people familiar with the re-arrest plans said. Prosecutors have been investigating since June, they said. A whistle-blowing tip from inside Nissan sparked the probe, Saikawa said.
Among other accusations, Nissan has criticised Ghosn for hiring his sister on an advisory contract, saying her role had no substance. The executive denies this, according to the people familiar with the case, saying she helped Nissan find a factory site, consulted the carmaker on strategy and lobbied on behalf of the company.

Ghosn’s jail time may stretch to months
Bloomberg

Carlos Ghosn has already been detained without charges in Japan longer than would be permitted in the UK for a suspected terrorist.
Since being arrested last month on suspicion of under-reporting his income, he has been held for 15 days. In the UK, police can hold suspects without charge for up to 96 hours for serious crimes such as murder, and up to 14 days under the Terrorism Act.
The powers given to police and prosecutors to incarcerate suspects during an investigation without charging them are unique in the developed world, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
The globe-trotting former chairman of Nissan, a household name in Japan, may still have a long time to wait for his freedom — pre-trial detention of more than a year isn’t unusual in Japan, according to Issei Sakamoto, a lawyer with Nakamura International Criminal Defense in Tokyo.