As Carole Ghosn attempts to mobilise public support, Nissan and Renault continue their investigations but at different paces and with different objectives.
In a news release, Renault states, once more, that its investigation set up by the Board has investigated the remuneration packages of its Executive Committee members for its financial years 2017 and 2018. The investigation concluded that they were compliant and that there was no fraud.
However, the French carmaker is forced to react to accusations regarding Mouna Sepheri. Reuters reports that payments totalling €500,000 were made to this Renault executive over several years, payments that Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly approved. The newswire clarifies that “nothing suggests that these payments from Renault-Nissan BV (RNBV) were illegal or that they breached Renault-Nissan’s governance rules”.
In a second news release on 10 January 2019, Renault identifies these actions as a destabilization campaign, deliberately orchestrated, and denies any irregularities, highlighting that its investigation concluded that its executives’ compensation packages were compliant and that there was no fraud.
The French side therefore identified no irregularities.
In contrast, on the Asian side Nissan announces through a news release that it received an update on the internal investigation that Hiroto Saikawa had mentioned in his press conference on 19 November 2018.
There is no official release of any details however, whether from Nissan or from the judiciary. But strangely, the press puts forward revelations a few days later – a technique used previously for example at the time of the arrest.