An external committee tasked with improving governance at Nissan Motor Co said on Wednesday there were sufficient facts to suspect violations of laws and the private use of company funds by ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn.
The committee, which has been scrutinising Nissan's corporate governance since the start of the year, said in its report that the concentration of all authority on Ghosn was the primary root cause of the misconduct.
It recommended that a majority of directors be independent and recommended that the role of company chairman should be abolished, while an independent, outside director should be chairman of the board.
Following the arrest and ouster of Ghosn, Nissan has pledged to overhaul the way it allocates corporate responsibilities, after admitting that too much control had been placed with Ghosn before his arrest late last year.
Ghosn, who was recently released on $9 million bail after spending more than 100 days in a Tokyo detention centre, has called the charges against him "meritless".
