The subject weighed heavily on him. In 2010, Kelly instructed Nada to begin the first of a series of secret plans designed to increase Ghosn’s benefits and compensation, according to court testimony and internal Nissan documents.
Executive compensation was a dangerous political issue in France, witnessed earlier this month, and if Ghosn’s real compensation had been revealed, the French government – as a major shareholder in Renault – would have pressured the company to fire him.
Mr. Nada, 56, joined Nissan as a junior legal advisor in 1990 and was extremely loyal to the company. He started his career in Britain and in 2010 became a senior manager.
He kept his work for Ghosn secret, he wrote in a draft statement to prosecutors reviewed by The Times, in part because Kelly convinced him that his boss, in his position as head of the alliance, was a critical bulwark against the ambition of the French government for Renault to absorb Nissan, its junior partner.
For eight years, Nada worked “proactively and creatively” to comply with Kelly’s instructions, he told the court, making deals to buy houses around the world for Ghosn’s personal use and to disguise the amount of his payment.
His career progressed rapidly. In the spring of 2018, when the investigation into Ghosn began to unite, Nada wielded enormous power, controlling Nissan’s legal, compliance, security and communications departments, among others. He was the principal adviser to his then chief executive, Hiroto Saikawa, and Ghosn.
For years, Nada dodged questions from internal and external auditors about his work for Ghosn, according to the documents. But in 2018, a Nissan whistleblower complained about Ghosn’s family travel expenses to a company auditor, Hidetoshi Imazu. The issue, Imazu later told Nissan lawyers, prompted him to investigate Ghosn’s affairs, including one of the secret companies that Nada had created to acquire property.