Beijing: Nissan Motor Co. has asked its staff to refrain from any communications with jailed directors Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly and their lawyers as Japanese prosecutors investigate the officials at the center of a scandal about under-reporting of pay. Employees were asked not to get in touch on their own and not to respond if contacted, according to an internal memo Nissan wrote to its employees on Friday. Nissan staff should immediately report the contact or attempted contact to the company’s legal department, according to the notice.
When contacted, Nissan declined to comment. On Friday, Nissan chief executive officer Hiroto Saikawa sought to reassure staff that the carmaker is addressing corporate-governance shortcomings.
The same day, Japanese prosecutors re-arrested Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn on fresh, more serious allegations of financial misconduct, dealing a blow to the car titan’s efforts to end his month-long stay in jail and seek bail. Kelly, who was arrested along with Ghosn on November 19, may be released on Christmas Day, his wife has said.
The Carlos Ghosn drama, which has been escalating and shocked the world, raised questions about Nissan’s corporate governance, with the allegations spanning at least a decade. The car titan and Nissan were indicted on December 10 for falsifying securities reports which under-reported his income by tens of millions of dollars. Carlos Ghosn has denied the allegations.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.