Nissan's axe-wielder axed

The senior Nissan manager who orchestrated the downfall of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi colossus Carlos Ghosn has been axed over his own financial irregularities.

In one of the car industry’s swifter examples of karma, Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa bristled with belligerence on Sunday but was shoved out mercilessly by his own board less than two days later.

Saikawa admitted he’d been behind Ghosn’s downfall, which saw the French-Lebanese-Brazilian car industry legend jailed twice in Japan on charges of financial misconduct.

Under fire, he told the board he would resign when a successor was found, the board instead threw him out because he paid himself too much.

He will be properly pushed out of his seat on September 16 after more than 40 years at Nissan’s Yokohama HQ.

Saikawa has been seen as an obstructive force with majority Alliance partner, Renault, since orchestrating his palace coup, but he was brought down by a board meeting that included both Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard and CEO Thierry Bollore.

At the centre of the dismissal were excerpts from an internal report from Nissan’s outgoing compliance head Christina Murray that proved Saikawa, 65, had overpaid himself by at least $US438,000 a year in stock rights.

He volunteered to pay back the excess pay, but insisted he would not step down.

Saikawa was being feted in Japan as the man who rid Nissan of Ghosn’s 20-year influence, despite Ghosn’s efforts saving Nissan during its darkest hours. That was until Kelly accused him in June of his own financial impropriety.

“I’m not responsible for that,” Saikawa told Japanese journalists the day before he was fired. “I will take responsibility for the Ghosn scandals and want the board’s nomination committee to find a succession plan as soon as possible in order to pass the baton.”