Michael Woodford and Tsuyoshi Kikukawa (smiling the days before the fraud scandal)
It ended like we expected it: The three Olympus managers that were convicted in the famous Olympus accounting fraud scandal will definitely not go in jail. Engadget reports that Tsuyoshi Kikukawa received a three-year suspended sentence, in light of the fact that he didn’t make the original decision to hide the firm’s financial losses. And Masatoshi Kishimoto and Toshiro Shimoyama, have escaped all charges because, as reported by Kyodo News a couple of months ago, too much time has elapsed since the original crime.
Meantime Michael Woodford the ex-CEO that discovered the fraud wrote a book you can find at Amazon (Click here). More important The Financial Times speculates Woodford got $15.5 million from Olympus to avoid any trial.
The story is now over (from a legal point of view) and Olympus new management has to focus on strengthen the camera business. Let’s hope the soon to be announced new OMD and FT cameras will help them to achieve their goals!
Source: Bloomberg.
71 Responses
They should have gone to jail. Shameful Japanese cover up and legal system
What’s shameful is the EP5 without a viewfinder.
Just like the martialism war criminals
Repeat post
They should have gone to jail. Shameful Japanese business cover up/legal system
Yes, we Japanese learned our Caucasian lessons well.
Feel better now? We can have a racial moment, and be really stupidly bitter and ridiculous!
Maybe, we should discuss [insert western business here] instead.
Well played sir!
+1 some people always forget (on purpose?) that we live in a single world. We could as well point our little fingers to American new data leak scandal, or nearer to me, to the Italian politics.. Now, can we please go back talking about some rumors/news?! There are cameras from both Companies on the way, and these are a nicer and less frustrating topic.
It’s still wrong, no matter the Nationality. Trying to put a spin on it using color or race is Just Ignorant.
Are you trying to spin it away from the fact of the matter, like they tried to spin the fact of their money losses?
Dear anonymous/capital letters: English is not my language, but I think what I wrote can’t be misunderstood. I try to semplify more my thought: There’s no reason to write comments pointing at Western / Eastern Countries, simply because we live in the same World and people are people. Therefore there are criminals everywhere, no Country is safe from them. I also wrote that we can talk about the Italian ridiculous but not laughable examples. BUT I prefer to read and write about rumors/news concerning photography/gear. And, as you wrote, let’s not act as ignorant racists. Please, next time would you mind putting a (nick)name? Thanks.
Our forum is flooded with anonymous posts these day…why not just use real life names..its not that we are on some XXX forum right?
Admin brought up the latest news regarding the Olympus scandal. Do you expect people to not comment on this topic? If those comments bother you, don’t read them. Basta.
Stop reading here, MSP. 😉
Unsavory business methods, including but not limited to deception, lying through omission, fraud, bribes, strong-arming et al, are of course pervasive and ubiquitous. However, the particular methods do vary not only from country to country, but also within the various subcultures within any culture. The local laws and their enforcement very much shape the locally preferred methods of scams. When in Rome do as the Romans. 😛
I can tell you that Italians are like Japanese, in this kind of fraud. :/
japan has the most corrupt business practices in the world with an institutional reaction to cover up and conceal , plus playing the race card is rather ironic when Japan is a deeply rooted racist culture.
What’s the point FrankG? Honest people should march on a warpath to Japan? Or start an embargo on Olympus products? And what Company will be the next to boycott? “Eye for an eye and the world goes blind”. I’m not defending anyone here, I’m simply blaming the racist comments and I find annoying to read almost a top ten of the most corrupt Countries. It’s useless, more than DXO ratings.
Racial or national viewpoints have got nothing to do with this. I would feel the same no matter which country this happened in, so I agree with OP in part. My reply originally was that it still is a fact that richer people, more important ones get away with much much more than those who are lower on the ladder. Regardless of the country.
Wonderfully funny posts. Can we just say “shameful HUMAN business and behavioral systems” and be done with it?
Any country you go to of any race or religious background, you have people with power and people with money and things don’t usually happen with the storybook ethical ending we would like.
That was my point, but it seems I had to practice more my English..
Huh? I hate it when people thrown in things like “Japanese”, as if the culture of corruption and coverup is unique to their country/culture. Reeks of prejudice, there are just as many high level coverups and scandals in the rest of the world as in Japan.
I’m disappointed but unsurprised by the lack of any real punitive response to this, and I would be willing to chalk it up partly to Japan’s heavily insider-based business culture, which at least compared to the other business cultures I’m personally familiar with is more corrupt and chummier with the government than average–and given how completely screwed-up the US government’s oversight of businesses is, that’s really saying something.
That’s not a racial comment in any way–I should hope not, as I speak more Japanese at home than English. Nor is it a broad-stroke cultural comment.
It’s just a statement that Japan’s government and business leadership is VERY “old boy’s club” based, which is highly unhealthy in things like this. As a result, the business culture tends to be even more screwed-up than the US. (Which, again, is saying something.) That wasn’t an issue when its strengths were working great during the ’80s and ’90s, but when times are tougher, the executive malfeasance and government intransigence start to hurt more and more, and things like this really don’t help put things on the right track.
Not that I think these guys would have gotten more than a slap on the wrist in the US, either.
None of that is an excuse for making racist comments, but one is allowed to make disparaging remarks about the Japanese legal system’s treatment of businesses without it being inherently racist.
I left two comments – both to the effect that this is a shameful decision – and both were removed – why?
Probably because you are not registered and thus your comments must be first reviewed by admin and do not show up immediately. Register with the site, and most of your comments would not need moderation.
it’s the refresh in the browser. it doesn’t work. they are there. peace
now you are being paranoid :p
Your comments wont post when you are wearing your tinfoil hat unless you tick the section at the top of the page.
Prison is not for prominent people or the elite of the society. It´s just made for the small people.
I´m sure Uli Hoeness won´t be put in prison.
I´m sure Berlusconi won´t be put in prison.
yes.. and we, the majority of works slaves, do nothing.
our systems are so corrupt. it has to be destroyed to build something new.
Don´t say it loud. NSA is watching you 😉
they are prob all member of the Bilderberg club.
lol. Democratic justice 🙂 “too much time has elapsed since the original crime” – that’s kinda kindergarten.
Not very clear, what do you mean by “Woodford got $15.5 million from Olympus to avoid any trial” – Woodford got 15M to take back his accusation?
Woodford was probably bringing a civil case against Olympus for wrongful termination of his contract or something or rather, which would have been separate from the criminal side of things.
In the meantime Woodford has set up his own medical and imaging business to show the world how it’s done….not.
Anyways Keith Cheeseman at Amateur Photographer and those that smelt blood will be disappointed 🙂
Console yourself by buying the book from Amazon who are adept at avoiding tax on enormous sales.
Two rival Yakuza in the story. One tried to coverup their crimes. The other turned a blind eye to the crime. And the criminals lived happily ever after. End.
of course no jail.. only poor people go to jail.
rich people are allowed to betray and steal… nothing new.
it makes me sick….
i wonder when we will see a revolte like the france revolution again.
some heads have to roll…..
Olympus will never get a red cent from me again. Their corruption goes way up, then they rip-off their loyal fan base. Looking forward to Sony buying them out, getting rid of the Olympus logo Forever.
Enjoy Lamepix DOA
Get Wikileaks Assange and Snowden make american get rid of the corrupt US administration first. NSA filth being a bit more than a camera company’s worth.
Back in your cesspit WASP trash 🙂
It would be incredibly amusing if Sony bought out Olympus imaging solely for the pleasure of watching the squeals of horror from the Olympus fanboys who pollute this forum
What’s funnier is Sony’s attempt at making lenses.
Said the rabid Panny fanboy
It then follows you will not buy anything from a company rated by Standard and Poors or any company with representation on Wall St.
> it makes me sick….i wonder when we will see a revolte
> like the france revolution again.
Haha! You really don’t think this would lead to a better world!?! Have you ever read “a tale of two cities” from Charles Dickens? It may be a novel, but it depicts quite accurately what happend then. The poor people gained power and behaved just as arbitrarly as the rich people had before them; injustice was just replaced by injustice… The same applies to other revolutions like the Russian or Chinese Revolution; the communist system which followed up both revolutions also just made things worser than before.
So don’t think things would turn better if the poor people raised to power! There would just be a switching of both sides; the poor would take the place of the rich and vice-versa…
And some of you think Woodford was the good guy in all of this? He got his $15MM not to pursue a law suit. There are no white knights at the top.
-Once he found out about the Money, he rocked the boat.. -Then, when he uncovered the truth, they tried to fire him. Then when they were exposed, they game him “Hush-Up” money. If he would’ve opened him mouth any further, you can be sure everyone would’ve been in jail right now.
I would’ve did the same thing…
And you are as slimy as Woodford. How naïve.
And he then writes a book. How many more millions did he get from that? You were probably stupid enough to buy it (since you would’ve done the same thing).
I would have wrote a book and sold it to stupid people like you, C. C.
Stupid.
I done I did or did I done.
So they did some dirty tricks to keep the company alive and let all the employees continue to work. It’s almost 2 years later and Olympus is still alive and kicking. It even makes a small profit as a company. The m4/3 sales are good and the system continues to grow. Who of the haters would have thought that almost 2 years ago?
> So they did some dirty tricks to keep the company alive and let all the employees continue to work.
What a completely bass-ackwards way of looking at the situation. If the executives had not been consistently hiding losses from the shareholders and the regulatory agencies over many years with their Tobashi accounting schemes, the problem would not have escalated into $1.7 Bn of losses that nearly killed the company.
They were protecting nothing except their own jobs. Not the shareholders, not the employees, not the public interest. And the company was bleeding money as a direct result.
I am utterly disgusted by the verdict and am voting with my money – I will not be buying another Olympus product again.
Then it follows you will not buy anything from a company rated by Standard and Poors or any company with representation on Wall St.
Or any where the corporation is itself a legal entity. It is not the responsibility of those that drive it. No one need take personal responsibility for crimes of the corporate entity.
And staying above the red by getting a bail out from Sony are two different things.
Olympus couldn’t get profit from the digital camera division for 2012
Woodford should be extradited back to Japan as a fugitive whistleblower. It goes to show you should never trust westerners in any position in and around Asian countries. A bunch of lying backstabbers.
Well exactly so. The Chinese, the Russians, the Europeans and the South Americans had a taste of the duplicity of the Leading Nation, which is treating them as potential terrorists.
And finally the Congress discovered that millions of Americans are spied upon, and their data sold to private companies, perhaps to sell them more cameras 🙂
Admin, are you part of the NSA? 🙂
I know Anonymous is.
They don’t need suspended year.
Michael Woodford, no more sushi for you!
With 15 mil, he’s probably eating baby white tiger steaks and sipping on chilled Unicorn Piss.
I heard it removes wrinkles, amongs other things…
You know nothing! Its dragons spit that removes wrinkles. That’s why there are no dragons left. Huh, Unicorns no such thing childs story!
Not a good day for the world’s perception of justice as practiced in Japan. Simply a men’s club throwback to the US in the 50’s.
Before people get too wound up about this, it is worth commenting that so far the US Fed has brought 4 prosecutions in the financial LIBOR scandal: all of them against UK companies. Not one US company has so far been brought to account. So if you want to talk about financial regulation and the law doing its job, perhaps you ought to look closer to home before castigating the Japanese.
US companies have directors who hide behind a corporate body being a legal entity with the same rights as a person, but no accountability. Directors are not personally responsible for the actions of the corporate entity. So there will be few if any cases against corporations and none against the directors who are not responsible for the corporation. They may be personally liable for some things. but not if the corporation “did it”
What a way to run corruption and never get caught. Be a US corporate director.
If one wants to tackle accounting fraud, go directly to the source: big accounting bureaus and the usual Wallstreet mafia banks.
How do you propose catching them? directors are not individually responsible for corporate action and as greed is good the corporate person/entity will not be impeded.
Just look at Standard and Pores. The worlds worst enemy. Lie after lie or was it fraud after fraud or ‘up the public; right up the public’ there money out there. They are still causing world chaos while they rake in their share over the top of their chaos. Opinion of course, just my thoughts and observations, but just read the papers for the past 10 years and then balance what s&p has done compared to the other rating agencies.
The big problem lies in audit requirements. There is little obligation on financial auditors to highlight or invevstigate numbers that don’t make sense. They get out of this by having a disclaimer that the numbers are correct based on the information the were given, so as long as the company present the numbers in logical way the auditor can sign them off and walk away even fraud can easily be identified or inferred. And an auditor who does take the time and effort to identify fraud will soon go out of business because no-one will hire them.
Easy. The tax office should have accredited audit companies and then appoint any one or even two of them to the reporting company as the annual report is filed. The reporting company pays the cost, which should be a standard hourly rate with future discounts for ‘good practice and good books’. Findings should be posted to the stock exchange and the general public allowed to view. (progress reports if longer than three months) Adjustment/corrections could be allowed to corporate reports within the audit period and be free of penalty.
Easy. Just make the law it will all happen. There are more to make it work than to stop it and all have money.
If you set a standard hourly rate that small copanies can afford, the quality of auditors will plummet – you only need to look at the legal aid system to see that. That all sounds fine and dandy but would create a whole arena of problems.
If on the other hand you make it a legal obligation that auditors cannot sign off the books if the numbers do not make sense then that shifts the onus completely. The benchmark being that if someone outside the relationship can spot it, then the auditor should have done and this system works fine in other areas so why not Finance?.
It would take only a couple of cases where an auditor was fined for the system to change.
I don’t believe that legal aid or a government system needs to be inferior. Nor is the cost of an auditor indicative of quality. I am not saying that cheap auditors are all good but paying top price does not mean better auditing but it may mean bigger intimidation.
So too much time time has elapsed since the comital of the crimes to bring charges. Would the same logic apply to a murderer or rapist?
There are a lot of unanswered questions about this whole affair, which i think no-one in authority in Japan wants to address because it would shine a light on some pretty murky issues around wider corporate practice, the culture of not being seen to lose face and the possible involvement of organised crime gangs. Issues that would have to be aired if their was a proper judicial enquiry.
If someone could take the time to explain where the money went, why such vast sums were paid for barely functioning companies and why my perception that money was being laundered is wrong, I’d be interested in hearing it,
because the Japanese judicial and regulatory structures certainly don’t appear in any hurry to enlighten us.
If the authorities reluctance to prosecute is based on a real statute of limitation, it looks like a great place to live if I ever decide on a career in serious crime.
I agree, however, one need look no further than the statute of limitations when it comes to the Catholic church’s pedophilia (fancy word for child rape) scandal where many priests were left untouched due too too much time having elapsed. I don’t see the point in such a statute existing, a crime is a crime, passage of time doesn’t magically heal the wrong doing.