We previously reported that Olympus manager Tsuyoshi Kikukawa was facing five years in prison due to manipulating account balances. Other managers were also supposed to join him due to the $1.7 billion dollar coverup. And now the hearings are over and done with.
According to 43Rumors, none of the managers are going to jail. Kikukawa received a three-year suspended sentence, and he is getting this because he didn’t make the decision to hide the firmâs financial losses. However, the NYTimes reports that he is likely to avoid prison–though it doesn’t seem certain. Two other managers, Masatoshi Kishimoto and Toshiro Shimoyama, are walking out of the court house without a single charge to their name because too much time has passed since the crime was committed.
Hopefully the collaboration between Olympus and Sony may strengthen any problematic issues that have been lingering. Many folks these days state that Olympus is a dying company. In personal chats with people who have left, they all tell me that the company is still doing very well–and that rumors of the demise are greatly over exaggerated. However, they also state that what’s keeping the company alive is its medical business.
The Tokyo District Court ordered Olympus to pay the equivalent of $7 million USD for the coverup. Last financial year (which ended in March), Olympus booked a net profit of 8 billion yen.
