Nissan shareholders sever last ties with ousted Ghosn

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Nissan Motor Co shareholders ousted erstwhile boss Carlos Ghosn as a director on Monday, formally severing his ties with the Japanese automaker he rescued from near-bankruptcy two decades ago and from which he is now accused of siphoning funds.

Shareholders gathered for an extraordinary meeting just days after Ghosn's latest arrest in Tokyo, expressing bafflement and concern about growing financial misconduct allegations. Ghosn has denied all charges against him and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup.

Tokyo prosecutors last week took the highly unusual step of re-arresting Ghosn -- who had been out on bail of nine million U.S. dollars -- returning him to the Tokyo detention center where he had previously spent more than 100 days. Under the latest allegations, he is suspected of trying to enrich himself to the tune of five million U.S. dollars at the automaker's expense.

Ghosn, who was first arrested in November, has been charged with under-reporting his Nissan salary for a decade, and of temporarily transferring personal financial losses to Nissan's books. However, the new allegation is potentially more serious, as it could show he used company funds for his own purposes.

"I can't comprehend how this could have happened, despite having auditors," said Setsuko Shibata, a retired homemaker who said her family had held Nissan shares for decades. "I can't say I feel better about the situation after today's explanation."

Meeting shareholders for the first time since Ghosn's arrest rocked the global auto industry last year, Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa started proceedings at a Tokyo hotel by apologizing for the inconvenience the scandal had caused, followed by a deep bow of contrition from him and a panel of executives and directors.

Proceedings were at times interrupted by some hecklers on the floor of the meeting, which was attended by a near record-high 4,100 shareholders.

The shareholders voted to remove both Ghosn and co-accused Greg Kelly from Nissan's board of directors. Kelly has also denied all charges against him.

They also voted in Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard as a director, an expected move that was widely seen as assuaging concern about the future of the Nissan-Renault automaking alliance engineered by Ghosn.

Source(s): Reuters