Karma bites back at Nissan boss

The man believed to be behind the misuse of funds charges against former Renault-Nissan Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn is himself under investigation for...

... the misuse of Nissan funds.

Nissan's board quizzed its CEO Hiroto Saikawa yesterday after a whistle blower alleged he used company funds to pay for his house in Tokyo.

The extraordinary meeting was called after former Nissan senior executive Greg Kelly alleged Saikawa ordered an illegal change to timing restrictions on executives selling compensation-linked stock in 2013.

It has been alleged that Saikawa earned a huge payment from the scheme, which enabled him to pay for his house.

He was also questioned about whether he requested Nissan to pay for the house on the promise that he would repay the full amount.

Kelly, arrested along with Ghosn in November for misuse of Nissan funds, made the allegation earlier this month in a Japanese business magazine, and an extraordinary meeting was called because Saikawa refused to discuss the allegations with the board.

The issue was considered so serious that the meeting was called just a day before Nissan’s annual general meeting.

Saikawa has maintained that he bought the house with his own money, while Nissan representatives have refused to comment.

A former protégé of Ghosn, Saikawa has overseen a marked deterioration in Nissan’s relationship with its 43 per cent shareholder, Renault, with Ghosn himself accusing him of coopting Japanese prosecutors into arresting him to shatter a proposed full merger of the two car-makers.

Reports also circulated today that it was Nissan, rather than the French government, which kiboshed the proposed Renault-FCA merger earlier this month.