Ex-Olympus chairman, six others arrested over cover-up

Feb 16, 2012, 5:41 GMT

Tokyo - Three former Olympus Corp executives and four others were arrested Thursday for alleged involvement in a cover-up of massive investment losses by the company.

Tokyo prosecutors arrested ex-chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former executive vice president Hisashi Mori, former auditor Hideo Yamada and former securities company executive Akio Nakagawa on suspicion of falsifying financial statements.

They were taken for questioning at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, the Nikkei business daily reported online.

Mori and Yamada are suspected of orchestrating a scheme to hide nearly 100 billion yen (1.29 billion dollars) in investment losses at Olympus, the Nikkei reported, citing those familiar with the investigation.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department also arrested Olympus financial advisor and securities company executive Nomubasa Yokoo and two brokers in connection with the case, the paper said.

In December, prosecutors searched company headquarters in Tokyo and Kikukawa's residence on the suspicion that financial reports had been falsified to hide the losses.

In early January, Olympus filed a lawsuit against current and former executives including Kikukawa and president Shuichi Takayama over the cover-up.

Olympus has said that Takayama and five of the other 11 board members would step down after a shareholders meeting to be held in late April.

Shares in Olympus were down 1.76 per cent at 2:15 pm (0515 GMT) Thursday.

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