Scandal-hit Nissan boss returns pay

NISSAN’S boss and some of his senior executives are handing back part of their salaries to show remorse over the vehicle inspection scandal engulfing the Japanese car maker.

Hiroto Saikawa said he started voluntarily returning part of his pay last month and would continue through to March.

Nissan is recalling more than 1m vehicles because unauthorised workers were routinely inspecting them. These staff members had borrowed the ‘hanko’, the traditional Japanese seals often used instead of signatures, of certified personnel. The faulty inspections affect only vehicles sold in Japan rather than exports, and has been going on since 1979.

Saikawa, chief executive since April, did not say how big the cuts would be or who else would take them. He earned £2.6m for the latest financial year, when he became co-chief executive with Carlos Ghosn, who earned £7.4m in the same year.

Saikawa said plant workers knew what they were doing was illegal and covered it up. It was ‘deplorable’ that higher management was so out of touch, he said.