Nissan CEO Saikawa admits receiving excess pay

Nippon, a Japanese automaker in the midst of the crisis, admitted on Thursday that the former chief executive of the company was paid more than he could receive because he faced financial misconduct but denied it wrong.

Nissan is already involved in a scandal about the arrest and ouster of former boss Carlos Ghosn accused of a criminal offense, including misrepresenting his compensation.

And on Thursday, current CEO Hiroto Saikawa admitted that he received a price that he did not deserve.

"I thought it was a matter of leaving it to someone else," he told reporters in Tokyo.

But he said he would deny any mistake and return the overpayment.

Entry came after local media reported internal Nissan survey findings that Saikawa and other executives received more stock-related compensation than they could receive.

The car company said, "The internal Nissan survey results will be reported to the board of directors on September 9."

"We were told that shareholder audit rights would also be part of this report," he added.

Nikkei Business said every day it is suspected that Saikawa changed the bonus terms inadequately adding $ 443,000 to compensation.

& # 39; No illegal payments & # 39;

But Nissan does not believe that overpayments are illegal, Kyodo News reported.

Excess payments were made in a scheme known as stock valuation rights, and directors can receive a bonus if the company's stock price rises above a certain level for a set period of time.

Nissan is currently under scrutiny to strengthen governance after the Ghosn scandal.

In June, Nissan shareholders voted in favor of various measures, including the establishment of three new oversight committees responsible for senior official appointments, pay issues and audits.

They also approved the election of 11 directors as a company restructuring, of which two Renault executives were among them, as well as Saikawa.

This reform was designed to make Nissan a more stable foundation after the arrest of Ghosn, who was fired from the leadership roles of Japanese and other companies.

He is waiting for a trial on reports of paying less than millions of dollars and using company funds for personal expenses.

He denied denial and accusations against Nissan executives against his plan to integrate the company with Renault for France.

Tatsuo Yoshida, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the payroll scandal "leaks the leadership agency at stake."

Saikawa's position as CEO is already undermined by the Ghosn fallout, Yoshida said.

"The probability of his resignation before resigning was 30{7be40b84a6a43fc4fae13304fce9a2695859798abfc41afd127b9f8b21c5f9c5}, more than 50-50."

Source: AFP