Nissan Motor’s board yesterday voted to oust Carlos Ghosn from his post as chairman following his arrest this week, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Ghosn stands accused of under-reporting his income by millions of dollars, along with a host of other financial irregularities.
The 64-year-old Brazil-born tycoon is credited with turning around the Japanese brand and forged an alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp that last year sold 10.6 million vehicles between them — more than any other firm in the world.
Photo: AP
Ghosn’s fate appeared all but sealed after his hand-picked replacement as chief executive officer, Hiroto Saikawa, launched an astonishing broadside at his mentor following his arrest on Monday at a Tokyo airport as he landed in a private jet.
Saikawa said “too much authority” had been placed in the chairman’s hands and lamented the “dark side of the Ghosn era” as he called the board meeting to fire him.
The meeting started at about 7pm, with seven board members voting on the motion to dismiss Ghosn, which needed a simple majority to pass.
Insiders said that Saikawa would likely not have suggested the ouster unless he were sure of support from his fellow board members.
“This would not have been proposed if there had been any doubt and the results of the investigations have already been presented to the board members,” a source close to the company told reporters.
Appointing a new chairman will take some time, as it has to be approved by shareholders, but Saikawa is seen as the most likely to take over the position.
Even if removed as chairman, Ghosn will technically remain on the board, as a shareholders’ meeting is required to oust him.
Ghosn was being held in a Tokyo detention center and has not been seen in public nor made any comments since his arrest.
Frenchman Ghosn has received a visit from the French ambassador as part of consular protection.
He also received a visit from Brazilian consul Joao de Mendonca yesterday, who told reporters that Ghosn “sounded very well, in good health.”
On Wednesday, prosecutors successfully applied to extend his custody for an additional 10 days as they step up their questioning.
Authorities say that Ghosn and US executive Greg Kelly “conspired to understate Ghosn’s income five times between June 2011 to June 2015,” reporting a total of ￥5 billion (US$44 million) instead of the actual ￥10 billion.
Deputy chief prosecutor Shin Kukimoto said that the type of crime Ghosn is accused of is “one of the most serious types of crime” under the Japanese Financial Instruments Act.
Under the law, companies themselves can also be held accountable for the falsified documents, Kukimoto said, following reports that prosecutors believe Nissan also has a case to answer.
Kukimoto said Ghosn faces a fine of ￥10 million and/or 10 years behind bars if convicted.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that France would be “extremely vigilant” about the stability of Renault and the alliance with Nissan.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
PROBE CONTINUES: Those accused falsely represented that the chips would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized end users, court papers said Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case local media have linked to the movement of Nvidia’s advanced chips from the city-state to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek (深度求索). The US is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model’s performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such
RSS