Olympus Senior Executives Charged

Japanese prosecutors have charged 3 senior executives over the huge loss cover up at Olympus. The charges came as the 20-day detention period of disgraced president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, named as the key player in a scheme to shift $1.7 billion of losses from the camera-maker’s books, expired. Tokyo district prosecutors said Kikukawa, two other former Olympus executives, Hideo Yamada and Hisashi Mori, and three financial advisers conspired to falsify the company’s balance sheet in fiscal 2006 and 2007.

In a statement the optical giant said that the company was implimenting a new management structure in order to achieve a fundamental overhaul of their systems of governance. With respect to the candidates for all of the roles, the new appointees will take the helm of a reborn Olympus, upon the approval of shareholders at the extraordinary meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 20 this year.

As well as charging senior executives, prosecutors have laid the same charge against Olympus as a corporate entity. Prosecutors also arrested the three disgraced former Olympus officers and financial adviser Akio Nakagawa for lying in financial documents relating to fiscal 2008, fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010. They will have 20 days to decide whether to charge them on these separate counts. Olympus Corp also faced the same fresh suspicions, the prosecutors said. Read the full article »»»»