Saikawa and Ghosn.
TOKYO: Almost three weeks after his shock arrest in Japan, Carlos Ghosn’s relationship with his former protege is emerging as key to determining what may have triggered the investigation that has put the car industry titan in a Tokyo jail cell.
Ghosn, who was ejected as Nissan’s chairman shortly after his arrest, planned for months to shake up senior management at the automaker and had made known his plans to replace chief executive officer Hiroto Saikawa, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
Ghosn, who promoted the Nissan lifer to the CEO position in 2017, wanted to carry out his plan at a board meeting in November, one of the people told the WSJ.
But people familiar with Ghosn’s case and with Nissan’s operations told Bloomberg News there was no plan to eject Saikawa last month, or before the end of his term, which was due to run until April next year. Any change in top management would have required the approval of the carmaker’s board, they said.
Saikawa couldn’t be reached for a response, the WSJ said, and the office of Ghosn’s lawyer, Motonari Otsuru, declined to comment.
Relations had been strained between Saikawa and Ghosn for some time, the people who spoke to Bloomberg said, declining to be identified discussing private information.
The Nissan CEO emerged this year as an opponent of Ghosn’s ambitions to deepen the company’s alliance with Renault SA via a merger. Saikawa publicly played down the chances of that being realized in May, prompting a dressing-down from Ghosn, according to a person familiar with the matter, who told Saikawa that he was jeopardizing Nissan’s credibility.
READ MORE: Prosecutors indict Nissan, Ghosn, reports say as focus on CEO role
But from virtually the moment Ghosn was taken into custody by Japanese police Nov 19, Saikawa moved rapidly to show he was in control.
The CEO appeared alone at a late-night press conference just hours after the arrest and issued a frontal condemnation of Ghosn’s alleged behaviour, calling it “the dark side of Ghosn’s long reign.”
Asked outright if a coup was under way at Nissan, Saikawa replied: “That is not my understanding. I didn’t make such an explanation and think you should not think of it that way.”
Ghosn, who remains CEO of Renault despite his situation, is set to be indicted for financial crimes as soon as Monday, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg last week. Prosecutors are also planning to re-arrest Ghosn on new charges not yet made public, said the people.
The Franco-Brazilian executive has been accused of under-reporting his income and misusing Nissan assets, crimes that could incur a sentence of at least 10 years in jail, according to Tokyo prosecutors. Ghosn has made few formal comments since being detained besides denying reports that he passed on personal trading losses to the carmaker.
Deferred income has also emerged as key to the probe: read more here.
Ghosn’s downfall has rocked the auto alliance he has created and led for decades, with Nissan said to be angling for more power in the pact in the wake of his arrest.
