Japan transport minister says unauthorized technicians certified cars at five Nissan plants

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said on Friday that unauthorized technicians had been found certifying vehicles at five Nissan Motor Co plants that the ministry has been inspecting.

The unauthorized technicians included contract workers, Ishii told a news conference.

Nissan has decided to recall all 1.2 million new passenger cars it sold in Japan over the past three years after discovering final vehicle inspections were not performed by authorized technicians.