Panel to Urge Nissan to Reduce Chairman's Roles after Ghosn Fiasco

Yokohama, March 27 (Jiji Press)--A special panel including experts is expected to urge Nissan Motor Co. <7201> to reduce the roles of its chairman as part of measures to revamp the major Japanese automaker's governance system following irregularities by its former leader, Carlos Ghosn, informed sources said Wednesday. The governance reform panel apparently believes that the excessive concentration of power in Ghosn led to his wrongdoing. In its final report, the panel is likely to propose that a majority of Nissan's board directors be selected from outside the firm, in order to strengthen the board's oversight of the automaker's management, the sources said. The panel will also call on Nissan to adopt a new governance system, such as a company with nomination, compensation and audit committees, with outside directors making up the majority of members on each of them, according to the sources. Currently, Nissan's board has nine members, including Ghosn. Only three of them are outside directors. Ghosn has been indicted for allegedly failing to report part of his executive pay from Nissan in the firm's financial statements, in violation of the financial instruments and exchange law, and on suspicion of aggravated breach of trust by the transfer of a personal financial loss to the firm, against the companies law. He was dismissed as Nissan chairman days after his first arrest on Nov. 19 last year. Ghosn was released on bail earlier this month, after being detained by Japanese authorities for more than 100 days. The special panel, set up in December, is co-headed by lawyer Seiichiro Nishioka, former chief of Hiroshima High Court, and Sadayuki Sakakibara, former chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), the nation's biggest employers group. Three outside board directors of Nissan are among its seven members. Following the scandal, Ghosn has resigned as chairman and chief executive officer at Renault SA, the French alliance partner of Nissan. He was relieved of the post of chairman at Mitsubishi Motors Corp. <7211>, a Japanese automaker and also member of the alliance, late last November, after his first arrest. END