Six charged over Olympus scandal
Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday charged Olympus Corp and six key figures in the $1.7bn (£1.1bn) accounting fraud at the camera and endoscope maker, tightening their case in the investigation of one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals.
Prosecutors charged ex-chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice-president Hisashi Mori and former auditor Hideo Yamada with inflating the company’s net worth in financial statements for the fiscal years ended March 2007 and 2008, in violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law.
Also charged were former bankers Akio Nakagawa, Nobumasa Yokoo and Taku Hada, prosecutors said in a statement.
The six were arrested in February on suspicion of filing false financial statements to help hide huge investment losses through complex takeover deals at the company. Prosecutors did not charge a seventh person they arrested last month.