TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nissan Motor Co on Tuesday said the executive responsible for its Nissan, Datsun and Infiniti brands was leaving, as it announced a management reshuffle to strengthen governance following the ouster of former boss Carlos Ghosn.
Nissan said Daniele Schillaci, an executive vice- president who had been responsible for the three brands and for all operations in the Japan, Asia and Oceania regions, had chosen to leave the company to pursue an opportunity closer to his native home in Europe.
Nissan also said it had named executive Yasuhiro Yamauchi as chief operating officer to strengthen daily operations.
It appointed an executive dedicated to performance recovery efforts and added executives overseeing major markets such as Japan, North America and China to the its executive committee.
Such changes, it said, were based on recommendations from an outside governance panel that it received last month. The external committee last month concluded a three-month audit of Nissan's governance and put blame squarely on what it called Ghosn's concentration of power.
Ghosn, who has been arrested on charges of financial misconduct, has denied all the allegations against him and said he is the victim of a boardroom coup by those who opposed his drive for a closer alliance with top shareholder Renault SA.
A representative for Ghosn has previously said the committee's findings were "part of an unsubstantiated smear campaign against Carlos Ghosn to prevent the integration of the alliance and conceal Nissan's deteriorating performance".
(Reporting by David Dolan; editing by David Evans)
