Nissan special committee says carmaker suffered from poor governance

A special committee set up by Nissan Motor Co to examine the root cause of alleged financial misconduct by ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn on Sunday said it appeared that the Japanese carmaker suffered from poor governance procedures, including director compensation.

Ghosn has been charged with three counts of financial misconduct and has been detained in Tokyo since his arrest on Nov. 19. Ghosn denies the charges against him, which include understating his salary for a total of eight years and temporarily transferring personal financial losses to Nissan's books.

After the special committee's first meeting, former judge Seiichiro Nishioka, who co-chairs the committee, said that the group planned to meet three or four times before issuing recommendations to Nissan's board on how to improve corporate governance. (Reporting by Maki Shiraki Editing by David Goodman)