Olympus Ex-CEO: Asking Japan SESC To Look Into Firm's Acquisitions
October 19 2011 - 11:44PM
Dow Jones News
The British former chief executive of Olympus Corp. (7733.TO)
said Thursday that he has sent a letter and other documents to
Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission, asking the
securities watchdog to look into the Japanese company's
acquisitions in recent years.
Michael Woodford, who was fired Friday from all executive
positions, said that the letter, which he sent from London via a
courier service, should reach the SESC sometime Friday.
While Olympus said Woodford was removed due to "major
differences in management style," Woodford said that he was fired
after raising questions about payments relating to acquisitions
made before he joined the Olympus board. The acquisitions in
question involve three small Japanese companies taken over between
2006 and 2008 as well as U.K. medical equipment firm Gyrus Group in
2008.
According to Woodford, enclosed with the letter to the SESC are
documents relating to the acquisitions, including a report prepared
by PricewaterhouseCoopers that looked into payments Olympus made to
its financial adviser for the Gyrus deal.
"It's up to the SESC to decide what to do with the documents,"
Woodford said.
On Monday, Woodford met with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and
handed over documents related to the Gyrus deal. The SFO
investigates and prosecutes complex fraud cases.
An Olympus spokesman said: "At this point, it is impossible for
us to confirm whether he has contacted (the SESC and SFO), so we
are unable to comment."
-By Juro Osawa, Dow Jones Newswires; 813 6269 2794;
juro.osawa@dowjones.com
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