Olympus scam: Former executives sentenced to prison –
Abenomics might be making Japan economy move again . One place were Japan needs to look at is the corporate culture as its not the best is transparency .
Reading the below reminded me that in a country where technology is at the cutting edge , corporate governance is like a Walkman in a iTunes world !
Many scams / irregular accountancy is common place .
Lets see if Abenomics 3rd arrow hits this target .
Tony Evans ,
Olympus scam: Former executives sentenced to prison
Three former Executives of Olympus have been sentenced to a suspended jail term for their role in the infamous accounting scam, after pleading guilty last year to falsifying accounts to cover up losses of $1.7 billion.
Former Olympus Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and Executive Hideo Yamada were given a three-year sentence, whilst Executive Hisashi Mori received a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
Olympus, the company, was ordered to pay $7 million in fines – in the scandal that is dubbed one of the biggest financial scams in Japan’s history.
The Olympus scam came to light in 2011, after then Chief Executive Michael Woodford was dismissed from his post after challenging Chairman Kikukawa and the board, over suspiciously large payments related to acquisitions.
This then led to an investigation being launched, which later revealed a cover-up of losses dating back to the 1990s.
The Chairman, the former Executive Vice President and the former Auditing Officer mentioned above were then arrested in February last year and later indicted on suspected violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. In September last year, all three had admitted to hiding losses.
Naturally, the scam also hit Olympus shareholders, as the firm lost almost 80% of its value in the aftermath of the revelations.
However, on a lighter note, Analysts commented that there have been signs that Olympus may be recovering from the scandal, after announcing a major overhaul and entered into an alliance with electronics giant Sony to boost its share of the global medical equipment market.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23156879
Tony Evans - Tokyo 
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