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TSE decides not to delist Olympus, slaps $130,000 fine, AFP says

TOKYO (TR) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange has decided not to delist camera maker Olympus, but instead slapped it with a $130,000 (10 million yen) fine for falsifying its books and concealing losses that go back decades, Agence France-Presse said, citing the TSE.

The company’s shares will go on “alert” status from Saturday, AFP reported. The Olympus scandal first came to light in October after the Japanese company’s former British CEO said he was dismissed after he raised questions about suspicious deals, including the $687 million fee it paid in 2008 to an adviser in the $2 billion acquisition of U.K. medical equipment company Gyrus Group Plc.

Olympus later admitted to paying inflated fees for that and other deals in order to secretly cover its losses.

“The exchange did not consider that (the improper accounting) had distorted investors’ judgment to the extent to which delisting should be imposed,” the TSE statement said, according to AFP. “The inappropriate accounting practices had generally no effect on sales or operating profit,” the TSE said.

When a company goes on alert, it has 3 years to show improvement in its internal controls and has to submit annual reports to the stock exchange, or its shares will be delisted.

Source: AFP