British prosecutor drops case against Japan’s Olympus

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Tuesday it had ended a twoyear case against Japanese endoscope maker Olympus Corp after a London court ruled that misleading auditors was not a criminal offence under English law.

The SFO, which charged Olympus and its British medical equipment subsidiary Gyrus in September 2013 for misleading an auditor, said it also could not have prosecuted individuals in the case because Japan does not extradite its nationals.

Olympus became engulfed in a $1.7 billion accounting scandal in 2011 after its former British chief executive Michael Woodford alerted prosecutors and the media to a series of unexplained payments after being fired for questioning company accounts.

Amid a global investigation and scandal, Olympus’s board resigned and three former executives and the company itself pleaded guilty in Japan to charges related to a cover-up.

But London’s Court of Appeal ruled in February that “English law does not criminalise the misleading of auditors by the company under audit” and the SFO decided on Tuesday against presenting evidence in its case. (RTRS)