Nissan faces £17m fine for Carlos Ghosn scandal, says Japanese watchdog
The scandal engulfing Nissan over its disgraced former chairman Carlos Ghosn has brought the car maker a fine worth £17.1m from Japan’s markets watchdog.
Nissan’s penalty is the second-largest ever in Japan for false financial reporting, and has been imposed for understating Ghosn’s pay, after he was arrested in dramatic circumstances in November last year over claims of financial misconduct.
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Ghosn stands accused of understating his salary by about 9.1bn yen (£63.6m) over the course of the previous decade, and temporarily transferring his own financial losses onto Nissan’s books. He denies any wrongdoing.
The fine covers the financial years from April 2014 to March 2018. Before then, Nissan is not liable for underreporting, according to Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC).
Japan’s financial regulator the Financial Services Agency will make a final decision on the fine.
The only penalty of its type larger than Nissan’s was imposed on Toshiba in 2015, worth 7.3bn yen (£51m). The car maker said in a statement it was taking the SESC’s recommendations seriously.
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“We express deepest regret to stakeholders for any trouble caused. We will continue efforts to strengthen governance and compliance including ensuring accuracy of corporate information disclosure,” it said.
Nissan’s new chief executive, Makoto Uchida, pledged on his first day in the role on 2 December to repair profitability and said setting realistic targets would be key to that goal, as Nissan tries to make a clean break from Ghosn’s leadership.