Olympus sues its own executives
Jan
11
Written by:
11/01/2012 13:54
Unprecedented move follows wide-scale fraud
Olympus has told the BBC it will sue 19 current and former executives involved in a $1.7bn (£1bn) accounting cover-up. The lawsuit, filed on 8 January, was seeking up to 3.6bn yen ($46.8m; £30.3m) in damages. The fraud was revealed after the camera company fired chief executive Michael Woodford when he questioned dubious payments. Mr Woodford told the BBC "It is an utter and complete vindication of my stance".
The case will focus on current and former board members, including ex-president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former vice president Hisashi Mori and auditor Hideo Yamada. The current president Shuichi Takayama was due to step down this month for his involvement in the scandal. Olympus spokesman Satoshi Ikuta also confirmed that all board members subject to the lawsuit would be stepping down in March or April.
Mr Woodford told the BBC, "If corporate governance is to mean anything in Japan, and for those who care about the future of Olympus, the only way forward is an entirely new board of directors, which are untainted by the past scandal".
A report in the Nikkei newspaper stated that Olympus will probably be fined over the incident by the Tokyo Stock Exchange rather than being delisted. Olympus lost almost half its market value since the scandal first came to light in October, but following the news of the lawsuit its share price rose by 20%.
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