Ex-Olympus president Shimoyama says hiring foreign CEO regrettable, Gendai Business reports

TOKYO (TR) – Toshiro Shimoyama, a former president of troubled camera and endoscope maker Olympus, says he laments the decision to hire a foreign national to head the company, according to Web magazine Gendai Business.

Shimoyama served as Olympus’s president from 1984 to 1993. “It was a mistake to bring a foreigner in to be president,” Shimoyama was quoted as saying in an interview published Friday by Gendai Business.

Olympus is presently embroiled in a scandal in which it attempted to hide substantial investment losses dating back decades through questionable acquisitions.

The former president earlier this month said he does not remember an attempt to conceal loses during his leadership of the 92-year-old company. “As president it wasn’t the case where all financial reports would come to me, so I have no memory. During that time (former Olympus president) Masatoshi Kishimoto was the treasurer … I wouldn’t have heard financial details,” he said in an interview with the Nikkei.

The man who brought the scandal to light, former Olympus Chief Executive Michael Woodford, is in Japan meeting with prosecutors, the police and regulators from the Tokyo Stock Exchange who are investigating the matter.

The British national said he was fired from the company when he began raising questions about several deals, including the $687 million fee Olympus paid to a little-known adviser in its $2 billion acquisition of U.K. medical equipment company Gyrus Group Plc. in 2008.

Woodford is expected to directly call for Olympus’s leadership to resign when he meets with them Friday for the first time since he was fired on Oct. 14, the Nikkei reported earlier.

Source: Gendai Business and Nikkei

Posted by Michael Blaskoski on November 25, 2011. Filed under National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

7 Responses to Ex-Olympus president Shimoyama says hiring foreign CEO regrettable, Gendai Business reports

Anonymous Reply

November 25, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Typical Old Japan. “Those foreigners don’t understand Japanese traditions”.

Unless Japan’s traditions involve lying, fraud, and corporate malfeasance, the blame rests squarely on those unscrupulous parasites who bled Olympus dry and tried to cover it up. Woodford could have shut up and collected his paycheck. Instead, he risked his career, and maybe his life, to expose this cancer at the heart of the company. He deserves the highest praise for showing that degree of moral character.
- CJ Reply
  
  November 25, 2011 at 5:13 pm
  
  I thought that was an extraordinary quote.
Hiko Reply

November 25, 2011 at 7:09 pm

I’m sure Olympus’ foreign shareholders think investing in Olympus and trusting its management was regrettable.
WeWereWallStreet Reply

November 25, 2011 at 10:34 pm

Great article and a real service translating the original (or at least reporting the gist of it). What a bunch of BS from these guys.

“Regrettable.” Does anybody use that word outside Japan?
Skattan Reply

November 26, 2011 at 9:38 am

“As president it wasn’t the case where all financial reports would come to me, so I have no memory. During that time (former Olympus president) Masatoshi Kishimoto was the treasurer…I wouldn’t have heard financial details,”

Translation: I too was incompetent
Pingback: another piece of sound reasoning from Japan Inc. « the enigma of arrival
thedudeabides Reply

November 27, 2011 at 5:28 pm

＞Translation: I too was incompetent

More like : “Don’t call me to testify.”