Ex-Olympus bosses ordered to pay Y58.8 bil over fraud

Very good news, squeeze these fossils for all they are worth get back their ill gotten gains.

I remember the story. Woodford read about Olympus's accounting shenanigans in a Japanese magazine, and looked into the affair, and found it to be true. He went to Kikukawa and told him that he would have to come clean, take responsibility, and resign. Kikukawa responded by firing Woodford, taking away his company apartment, credit card, and car, and forcing Woodford to go to Narita on a bus.

Woodford didn't take kindly to getting a boot in his backside from a lying thief, and immediately went to the press about the affair.

What I remember most is how the story made the front pages in New York, London, and Paris, but how it was buried deeply by the Japanese press. The Japanese press took Olympus' and Kikukawa's side, reporting that Woodford was fired because he "didn't understand Japanese corporate culture" (despite the fact that Woodford had been with Olympus for 19 years, and had been a board member in the company).

That Kikukawa, Mori, and the rest didn't go to jail was a travesty. Had they committed the same crimes in America, they would likely have died in prison (Jeffrey Skilling, of Enron fame, is still in prison today).

The worse thing is that Olympus was/is not alone in what they had done. The Japanese press always reluctant to report anything negative about Japan Inc, and Japanese companies, having no outsiders on their boards, and extremely few foreign executives who are not bound by the culture, problems with corporate governance remain under the radar.

That's some serious cash for 6 people to repay! It's rather disgusting if they are actually able to do it!

Good to see that this has finally come around. It's been a long time since the incident. I hadn't realized that there were still lawsuits around the issue. I thought that everything has been settled with the suspended sentences or Kikukawa and the others. Justice in Japan is slow, but it's good to see that it can work sometime.

So, where does the trail of Japanese business deceptions, lies and cover ups end? The list is too long to type. It would seem that, the 'bushido' culture of honor and integrity is nothing more than 'bullshido'.

sangetsu03: "What I remember most is how the story made the front pages in New York, London, and Paris, but how it was buried deeply by the Japanese press."

Another fun fact is that "Olympus Has Fallen", which came out about the same time, was retitled "End of White House" in Japanese, and I was told it was NOT a coincidence despite my arguing that it was more likely because of the Japanese propensity to name movies with similar titles because they think it will sell by association (the movie followed on the heels of "White House Down").

"The worse thing is that Olympus was/is not alone in what they had done. The Japanese press always reluctant to report anything negative about Japan Inc, and Japanese companies, having no outsiders on their boards, and extremely few foreign executives who are not bound by the culture, problems with corporate governance remain under the radar."

Actually, the worse thing is that not only are they not alone, they are not alone in denying, lying, and changing the history of it. You can see plenty of apologists on this site, even, who claim that Olympus, Takata, and most recently Toshiba, among others, are part of an American (and South Korean and Chinese!) conspiracy to take down Japanese companies, and that those companies had no choice but to admit to false allegations, etc. So not only is it played down in the media if mentioned at all, the idea that they are the victims is played up, and once again it is not Japan's fault. Hence, the rinse and repeat, and the constant additions to the list of companies like Olympus, despite the "We vow it will not happen again," once all the denials have been put aside (until the media kicks in).

wow where is this money now if hidden or spent what happens next.

No jail term?

Well done JT for putting this in the crime and not business section.

Strange - punishment for these guys but only scoldings for the Tepco executives. Hmm.

Well done for Olympus and shareholders for bringing the case against these corporate cancers. The Japanese inept judicial system failed in its task by giving Kikukawa a suspended sentence so it is good that separate proceedings were initiated. I can only wonder why it has taken so many years for the Tokyo court to reach such a decision. The men should have been jailed years ago. They should have been stripped of all assets retrospectively (Kikukawa transferred many assets to his children just before the suspended sentence was issued). An appeal could take years while self congratulating legal incompetents yet again fail to uphold justice. No wonder the legal profession is so despised. The evidence was overwhelming. Like Kikukawa and the others, they too are morally bankrupt . They are worse than useless. I hope younger generations will stand up and take similar actions. The Japanese corporate world is riddled with useless, incompetent, ageing dinosaurs bereft of morals who think a simple bow is enough to atone for massive fraud and other crimes. There is no justice in Japan. Disgusting.

Standard business practice in Japan, if only that meddling foreigner didn't mess it all up.

Pay to whom ? And who exactly, is being "asked" to pay ? Is there any "enforcement" behind this "asking" ?

And who exactly, is being "asked" to pay ?

Asked? In the article it says A group of sacked Olympus executives have been ordered to pay more than 50 billion yen in damages. Nothing about being asked. And the 'who' are the sacked executives, more specifically Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and five others, who were key figures in a complicated fraud.

Pay to whom ?

As it says in the article, *Tsuyoshi Kikukawa and five others must pay the company some 58.8 billion yen*. "The company" being Olympus.

Strangerland, yes - I agree with your version, having re-read it. Though who, (names - Kikukawa being one ? but can we have a full list please) are being asked to Pay or Pay-back ?

It does sound rather a lot, are these bonuses and over which period of time ?

What about the Auditors - who were involved to have mislead the investors ? (They should be named).

Why pay the Company back rather than the Shareholders (Pension funds that lost funds) - or are these monies going back into a separate fund with which to compensate those investors who lost money after the announcement of the problems (as I think may be the case with the information above).

As to enforcement...