Statement from Carlos Ghosn’s defense team:
Nissan’s claim that it conducted “a robust, thorough internal investigation” is a gross perversion of the truth. Rather, the facts demonstrate that investigation was never about finding the truth; it was initiated and carried out for the specific, predetermined purpose of taking down Carlos Ghosn to prevent him from further integrating Nissan and Renault, which threatened the independence of Nissan, one of Japan’s iconic, flagship companies.
- Hari Nada, whose own conduct was the subject of the investigation, was in charge of running it, even after Nada pled guilty to criminal charges. No reputable company continues to employ as a senior trusted executive, an individual who pled guilty to a crime, much less permit that individual to conduct the investigation of the very conduct in which he was directly involved.
- Nissan’s internal investigation, conducted along with Latham & Watkins, was not independent. As Nissan’s long-time outside counsel, Latham was not an independent fact finder, as they had given legal advice concerning the very issues that were the subject of the investigation.
- Although the supposedly “robust, thorough internal investigation” purportedly found evidence of wrongdoing by Carlos Ghosn, it failed to discover evidence of Saikawa’s wrongdoing, which surfaced only after statements by Greg Kelly.
- Nissan never once sought to interview Carlos Ghosn concerning the matters under investigation, and even to this date has failed to share with Mr. Ghosn or the public the reports of the investigation or the evidence against him it purported to find.
These are not the hallmarks of a company committed to conducting fair and impartial investigation, rather evidence that Nissan’s investigation was fundamentally flawed, biased, and lacking in independence from its inception.