Did Ghosn's reaction to Nissan's quality scandal trigger his downfall?

Insiders claim the chairman was the victim of a coup.

Nissan ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn after a whistle-blower linked him to a diverse selection of financial wrong-doing, including under-reporting his income to Japanese authorities. Voices from within the company claim his dismissal was a coup staged by co-workers unhappy with how the executive handled Nissan's quality scandal.

The scandal -- which only affects vehicles sold in Japan -- broke out after Nissan realized faulty vehicles were allowed to slip into the hands of consumers. In some cases, the workers performing the final quality check on the assembly line weren't properly trained. In worse situations, they ignored defects and sent the vehicles out of the factory for delivery. It continues to be the cause of massive headaches among Nissan's top brass, but Ghosn allegedly ignored it and let other executives deal with it.

"He thinks he is not at all responsible. I wonder which company he represents as chairman," an anonymous Nissan executive told Japanese newspaper Nikkei. His comments were reported in the American media by Automotive News. 

The source added Ghosn refused to cut short a family vacation in Japan to attend an emergency meeting about a new outbreak of defects. These allegations build on an earlier report claiming the 64-year old executive was planning to merge Nissan and Renault, a move which drew heavy criticism in Japan. While many signs point to an inside coup, the Tokyo district's public prosecutor office maintains that's not the case.

"When a crime is suspected and there is evidence, we will carefully judge if it warrants an indictment. We won't do that with an agenda in mind,” said deputy chief prosecutor Shinji Akimoto.