Japanese gov't recommends court fine on Nissan over uncertified vehicle inspections

TOKYO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Transport Ministry on Monday asked a local district court to fine Nissan Motor Co. for not adhering to warnings given to the automaker to refrain from using uncertified staff to conduct vehicle inspections.

In September, following both internal and external probes, Nissan was ordered to fix its substandard operations after it came to light that the malpractice was still taking place three weeks after the ministry issued the order.

According to sources with knowledge of the matter, at the automaker's plant in Tochigi Prefecture, 107 final vehicle inspections were carried out after Nissan was ordered to correct its business practices.

The relevant fine here, thus, could reach 32.1 million yen (305,592 U.S. dollars) as under Japanese law, Nissan can be fined up to 300,000 yen (2,859 U.S. dollars) for each car affected by the uncertified vehicle checks.

While the ministry itself has not brought charges against Nissan, the Yokohama District Court will now decide whether the fines are applicable to the automaker for knowingly using staff who had yet to be certified to conduct final vehicle checks. Enditem