A Tokyo court rejected ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn’s request to attend a board meeting this week, denying him a seat at the table even as the carmaker looks set to bolster an alliance he built over two decades.
Prosecutors submitted a document to the Tokyo District Court from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. stating its opposition to Mr. Ghosn attending Tuesday’s board meeting, Mr. Ghosn’s lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters.
“Nissan’s strong opposition to Ghosn’s attendance is very regrettable,” Mr. Hironaka said outside his law office. The defence team still had time to appeal the decision, he added, and the lawyers later duly filed an appeal, according to Kyodo News.
Mr. Ghosn was released on a US$9-million bail only last week after more than 100 days in detention. He faces charges of underreporting his salary at Nissan by about US$82-million over nearly a decade – charges he has called “meritless.”
The Tokyo District Court on Monday declined to temporarily suspend a condition of Mr. Ghosn’s bail that stops him from meeting people linked to his case, blocking what would have been a dramatic face off between the once-feted executive and the colleagues he has accused of fomenting a coup.
The court did not give a reason for its ruling.
Nissan could not be reached immediately for a comment outside business hours.
The court’s decision came as French automaker Renault SA, Nissan’s top shareholder, confirmed it was in talks with Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. about setting up a new alliance body to improve their collaboration.
Mr. Ghosn’s dramatic arrest last November has caused concerns about the future of the three-way alliance, the world’s largest maker of automobiles excluding heavy trucks.
“The proposed arrangement will have no impact on the existence of the [alliance agreement] and the cross-shareholding structure, which will both remain in place,” Renault said.
JOINT BOARD MEETING
Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi plan to set up a joint board meeting structure under which Renault’s new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, is likely to take the chair, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
That would replace Dutch-based companies currently linking Nissan and Renault and, separately, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, the people said.
The heads of the partners will hold a news briefing at Nissan’s Yokohama headquarters on Tuesday, Nissan said.
Mr. Hironaka said Mr. Ghosn would meet with media at an “opportune time,” but that it would not be on Tuesday.
Some at Nissan had been unhappy with Mr. Ghosn’s push for a deeper tie-up, including possibly a full merger.
One of the world’s best-known auto executives, Mr. Ghosn was sacked as chairman of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and resigned as chief executive of Renault after his arrest.
However, he remains on the boards of all three, given a shareholder vote is required to remove a board member.
If his request to attend the board meeting had been approved, he would have been expected to dial into the meeting via teleconference, given the conditions of his bail, according to a person familiar with Nissan’s thinking.
Mr. Hironaka said Mr. Ghosn had received an invitation to the meeting with details of a time and location, and that there had been no discussion on whether he would attend in person or not.