Nissan said Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta will step down from his position effective June 27, when his term on the board ends at the Japanese carmaker’s annual meeting of shareholders.
The announcement on Friday comes after the company said last month that Gupta, who took charge as COO in December 2019, won’t be reappointed to its board. Nissan fell short of giving details on Gupta’s departure, saying he will leave to pursue other opportunities.
Calling Gupta’s departure a result of internal clash, the Financial Times reported this week that he agreed to step down after Motoo Nagai, an outside director who heads Nissan’s audit committee, presented him with multiple internal complaints, one of which was almost a year old. Two Nissan executives claimed Gupta was "framed,” but other people familiar with the situation said the committee promptly acted on the complaints when they were formally submitted through an internal hotline, according to the newspaper.