Carmaker plans to add external board seats

TOKYO: Nissan Motor Co Ltd plans to boost the number of external board members and set up a committee to oversee compensation as part of its effort to improve governance following the arrest of former chairman Carlos Ghosn for financial misconduct, said a source.

Critics have said Nissan lacked adequate governance, with few truly independent voices on the board capable of questioning Ghosn and looking out for regular shareholders’ interests.

It has not yet decided how many more external board seats to add, according to the source.

The current three external board members include retired Renault SA executive Jean-Baptiste Duzan, considered to represent the views of the French carmaker which is Nissan’s biggest shareholder. The other two are former bureaucrat Masakazu Toyoda and racing car driver Keiko Ihara.

Meanwhile, Ghosn and his representatives still have no right to access a contested Rio de Janeiro apartment, said the carmaker, after a fresh legal document showed a Brazilian court decision to grant access.

According to the document, the court decided on Wednesday the ousted chairman and his daughter should have the right to access the apartment to retrieve personal belongings.

Nissan said the ruling was irrelevant given an earlier decision by a higher court overturning that decision.