Former Olympus chief ‘to get £10m’
MICHAEL Woodford, the Olympus CEO who was fired after trying to uncover suspected fraud, settled a London lawsuit with his former employers yesterday.
The terms of the agreement were not revealed, but the Financial Times reports there may be a £10m payment to Mr Woodford.
He sued Olympus at an employment tribunal for discrimination and unfair dismissal under whistle-blowing rules and was said to be seeking $60m, according to a person familiar with the claim.
“The company needs to move on,” Mr Woodford said outside the hearing room in London yesterday. “There is a new board. I need to move on.”
The Japanese camera maker had about $4bn wiped off its market value after dismissing Mr Woodford on October 14 when he questioned inflated fees paid to advisers. Olympus has since admitted to hiding losses and a 13year cover-up.
It is facing shareholder lawsuits and a criminal investigation in which three former executives were arrested and indicted by Japanese prosecutors.
The agreement needs to be approved by the Olympus board next month, Mr Woodford’s lawyer Thomas Linden said.
“We are in negotiations with Woodford for settlement,” said Osamu Kobayashi, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Olympus. He declined to comment further.
If reports of a £10m payout were correct, it would represent the largest sum ever recovered in a British whistle-blowing claim, London-based employment lawyer Jo Keddie said, who is not involved in the case.
“The adverse attention which this case would have attracted clearly has had an impact on the amount of compensation that may have been paid to him,” Mr Keddie said. Bloomberg