Kelly Says CEO Saikawa Knew All About Ghosn Pay Scheme

Jailed former Nissan Motor Co. board member Greg Kelly claims CEO Hiroto Saikawa understood in detail and approved a disputed $82 million compensation package for Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested last year for underreporting those earnings.

Both men were detained on the same day in November. Kelly was granted bail in mid-December. Ghosn was released on bail in March but re-arrested a month later. He awaits trial on multiple charges of financial wrongdoing.

Kelly tells a Japanese magazine that he and Saikawa collaborated on the compensation package for Ghosn, now 65, that would pay him $40 million immediately upon retirement and about that much more spread over several years to prevent him from joining a rival carmaker. The Financial Times reported in March that the resulting document was signed by Saikawa.

“We had the same objective,” Kelly says of the package: “to retain Carlos Ghosn in a way that was lawful.”

Kelly adds that Saikawa asked him in 2013 whether Nissan could loan him money with which to buy a house in Tokyo. The company ultimately rejected the request. One of the charges against Ghosn is that he arrange for Nissan to cover his losses on currency trades until he could repay the company.

FT says Nissan declined to comment on Kelly’s statements and did not make Saikawa available for questions.