The Nissan Motor Co. board of directors was paid too much in fiscal 2004, shareholders charged Tuesday at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in Yokohama.

The seven members of Nissan's board of directors received a total of 1.822 billion yen for the year ended in March, much higher than the 938 million yen paid to the 27 directors of Toyota Motor Corp., which posted a record high net profit of more than 1 trillion yen in fiscal 2004.

"(The average amount per capita) at Nissan is seven times as high as Toyota," one investor said, adding the company should reward rank-and-file employees first before giving the directors extremely high levels of compensation.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn, however, told the 1,835 shareholders that while the money is high by Japanese standards, it's not so high by global standards.

Ghosn also said the company has turned in record-setting performances over the past few years. The company's revival should benefit all contributors, he said, adding that the hard work of the directors should be rewarded.

Despite the criticism, the shareholders approved all seven of the proposals made by the automaker, including a proposal to increase the maximum amount of annual remuneration for directors to 2.6 billion yen from 2 billion yen in line with an increase in the number of directors.