JAPAN/FILE: Japanese prosecutors and the metropolitan police arrest three former Olympus executives for their involvement in the company's 1.7 billion U.S. dollar accounting fraud

Record ID: 466072

  • Title: JAPAN/FILE: Japanese prosecutors and the metropolitan police arrest three former Olympus executives for their involvement in the company's 1.7 billion U.S. dollar accounting fraud
  • Date: 17th February 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OLYMPUS LOGO ON BUILDING VARIOUS OF OLYMPUS CAMERAS ON DISPLAY IN SHOP
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Crime,Business,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVA2OORJJK1BOZJ9HCAD0D7NVLG2
  • Story Text: Japanese prosecutors swooped on three former executives of Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp on Thursday (February 16) over their role in a the company's 1.7 billion U.S. dollar accounting fraud.
    Prosecutors arrested ex-president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, officials said in a statement.
    Also arrested were four others, including former bankers Akio Nakagawa and Nobumasa Yokoo, suspected of helping the executives hide huge investment losses through complex M&A deals.
    Speaking in December, Yamada said he felt a "heavy responsibility" for what had happened.
    "I sincerely regret what I've done to both the shareholders and everyone in Japan," he told reporters last year.
    The arrests come as investors focus on who will run the once-proud company when its management steps down at an April 20 shareholders meeting, and whether Olympus will seek a capital tie-up to fix its balance sheet.
    Olympus is banking on that April meeting marking a turning point in the scandal, with at least six of its 11-member board, including President Shuichi Takayama, set to resign.
    Last year, the investigative panel found Kikukawa, Mori and Yamada had played leading roles in a 13-year scheme to hide the losses, and they are among 19 executives Olympus is suing over the scandal.
    The scandal was exposed last October by then-chief executive Michael Woodford, a rare foreign CEO in Japan, who was sacked by the Olympus board after questioning dubious M&A deals that were later found to have been used to conceal the losses.
    Olympus is also under investigation by law enforcement agencies in Japan, Britain and the United States.
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