Nissan suspected of forging inspection documents

Tokyo : Nissan factories routinely forged inspection documents for new vehicles, reports said Wednesday, as a scandal mounted around Japan's second-biggest carmaker that has already been hit with a costly recall.

Nissan said Monday it would recall 1.21 million cars in its home market after it emerged that unqualified staff were performing final checks on vehicles before they were shipped to dealers and consumers.

But the Asahi Shimbun reported Wednesday that factories issued documents with the names and seals of certified inspectors "to make as if certified staff had carried them out."

"It is a significant problem if the documents were forged to hide wrongdoings," the Asahi quoted an anonymous transport ministry official as saying.

A government probe found the Japanese automaker had used uncertified staff to check vehicles at all six of its domestic factories, Kyodo News said.

"If the fabrication of paperwork did happen, it would mean workers at the factories had intentionally sought to cover up the practice, rather than overlooked regulations on inspectors' qualifications," Kyodo said.

Nissan said the transport ministry had carried out inspections at all six of its factories in Japan.

However, a spokeswoman declined to comment on the content of the reports, citing an internal investigation that the firm had said could take one month.

Transport ministry officials also declined to comment on the reports or the status of their probe when reached by AFP.

Nissan shares shed earlier gains and dropped more than two percent after national broadcaster NHK aired the news.