Inside Japan's crippled leaking nuclear reactor
TelegraphTVThe view from an endoscope pushed inside one of the nuclear reactors that was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011.
Olympus Is Given Fine but Avoids Delisting
New York Times
But like Olympus, Nikko Cordial avoided a delisting, fueling accusations that the Japanese authorities coddled established players while punishing newcomers. The perception of arbitrary outcomes, and the message it sends about Japan's tolerance for bad ...
Olympus Auditors Face Difficulty
TelegraphTVThe view from an endoscope pushed inside one of the nuclear reactors that was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011.
Olympus Is Given Fine but Avoids Delisting
New York Times
But like Olympus, Nikko Cordial avoided a delisting, fueling accusations that the Japanese authorities coddled established players while punishing newcomers. The perception of arbitrary outcomes, and the message it sends about Japan's tolerance for bad ...
Olympus Auditors Face Difficulty
Olympus auditors will face difficulty certifying the company's earnings restatement by the mid-December deadline to avoid delisting.
misléading[mis・léading]
- レベル：大学入試程度
[形]〈言葉などが〉人を誤らせる, 誤解させる, 誤解を招くおそれのある.
mis・léading・ly
[副]
mis・léading・ness
[名]UPDATE 5-Olympus execs quit before showdown with ex-CEO
* Ex-CEO Woodford "confident" Japan will probe scandal fully
* President Takayama says willing to resign after corp revival
* Woodford wouldn't be surprised if "some criminality" involved
* Nippon Life says to keep backing Olympus; shares up 17 pct 百分點
By Isabel Reynolds and Tim Kelly
TOKYO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Three executives of Japan's Olympus Corp resigned on Thursday ahead of a boardroom showdown with ousted CEO Michael Woodford, as the British whistleblower said he would not be surprised if "some criminality" were involved in the scandal engulfing the once-venerable firm.
The camera and endoscope maker admitted this month it hid losses on securities investments for two decades, blaming former president and chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former vice-president Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada for the cover-up.
But where the money trail leads remains a mystery, and speculation simmers that organised crime syndicates may somehow be involved.
Kikukawa, who quit as president and chairman on Oct. 26, and Mori, who was fired, had tendered their resignations from the board with immediate effect, as had Yamada, who could attend board meetings but not vote, Olympus said in a statement.
And new President Shuichi Takayama said in a separate statement the current management team was ready to quit once "the path to Olympus' revival became clear."
Woodford, 51, who earlier met with Japanese police, prosecutors and regulators in Tokyo, expressed confidence that the authorities would fully investigate the scandal.
"The talks (with authorities) have passed all my expectations ... and it's very evident to me they are going to investigate this whole issue without bias and thoroughly, and that will include following the money flows in relation to all the transactions," he told reporters.
"I'm immensely encouraged. I've been treated with great courtesy and I'm much more confident than I thought I would be with what I've been told."
Woodford returned to the Japanese capital on Wednesday for the first time since he fled the country after being fired as CEO on Oct. 14, having lifted the lid on some large and dubious payments related to acquisitions by the company.
LOOK THEM IN THE EYE
On Friday, he will attend a board meeting.
"I want to take the opportunity to look the directors in the eye and tell them what I think is best for the company," he said. "I just hope they understand the game is up and do the decent thing, stop damaging the company. Don't look for self-interest, look for the 45,000 people.
"Have some shame, have some dignity, that's what I want to tell them."
Woodford later welcomed the resignations of Kikukawa and the other two executives, but told an audience of business people that the entire current board should resign.
"If they have an iota of care for the company then they should realize what they have done and give assurances they will resign in the near future," said an animated Woodford, who also criticised Japanese shareholders for their relative silence and Japanese media for their slow start to covering the scandal.
Olympus fired Woodford as CEO, asserting he did not understand Japanese culture or the firm's management style.
His return to Tokyo caps a remarkable turnaround for a rare foreign senior executive in Japan. After being sacked, he was told his driver would no longer be available and he should vacate his apartment. Someone Woodford trusted suggested he leave Japan immediately for his own safety, which he did.
Woodford, who said he was axed for questioning the M&A deals, fled to England and has campaigned for Olympus to come clean. Big foreign shareholders have called for his return to run the company, which Woodford has said he was willing to do.
On Thursday, he said he had a "dream team" in mind to run the company, but declined to give details.
Woodford says the Tokyo police, who have mobilised an organised crime unit to take part in the probe, have a big role to play in uncovering the truth. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's Serious Fraud Office are also investigating.
POLICE PROTECTION
Woodford had refused to return to Japan because of safety concerns, but says now he is confident police will protect him.
Olympus said on Monday a third-party panel it set up to investigate the matter had found no evidence that organised crime gangs were involved in the M&A payments -- which included a massive $687 million advisory fee paid mostly to an obscure Cayman Islands firm.
Echoing calls by major foreign shareholders, Woodford said Olympus shares should not be delisted, in part to help ensure full disclosure of information. Delisting could cut Olympus off from capital markets and put it under pressure to sell core businesses.
Nippon Life Insurance Co, one of Olympus' biggest shareholders, repeated on Thursday it would back the firm. The insurer and its subsidiaries recently cut their stake to 5.11 percent from 8.18 percent.
Nippon Life Senior Managing Executive Officer Yasuomi Matsuyama told a news conference the affair was regrettable, but appeared to be the work of a small number of executives.
"Olympus, with a 70 percent global share of endoscopes, is an important company that represents Japan and has technological prowess," he said.
Shares in the 92-year-old camera and medical device maker, which lost more than 80 percent of their value as the scandal unfolded, jumped more than 17 percent on Thursday.
"There's no basis for the stock to be up at this level," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities.
"What's going on in the market right now is just traders playing with fire until the company's announcement."
Olympus is due to announce its revised results by Dec. 14.
Joyce Yen
有離職員工爆料, 強冠長期從香港進口劣質油, 一定很多人在想, 為什麼不早爆料 ?
答案很簡單: 就是台灣沒有"揭弊者保護" (whistleblower protection) 法律. 爆料者的權益是沒保障的.
廉政署提出的 "揭弊者保護法" (目前還是草案階段) 只保障公務員, 勞團呼籲要包括私人企業員工, 也不見政府有任何回應. 這種呼籲看似為了勞工權益, 地溝油事件卻告訴我們, 它也是消費者權益. 也牽涉到商業秩序. 當然就攸關經濟成長.
http://www.coolloud.org.tw/node/76271
勞基法雖有說雇主不得解雇揭弊員工, 但沒施行細則 (例如, 主管機關如何保護揭弊者隱私? ). 所以有說等於沒說
http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/opinion/paper/728745
美國從 2001 年恩隆案後, 就陸續有一大堆 "揭弊者保護" 立法. 包括食品業 (Food Safety Modernization Act, 2011). 一來是保障工作者言論自由, 二來是企業力量越來越大. 為了節省成本而欺瞞消費者的誘惑也越來越大, 若不鼓勵員工揭弊, 政府根本無從查起.
我們看電視, 很容易誤以為台灣天天有爆料. 仔細看每天的爆料, 都是不痛不癢的事. 與企業不法相關的爆料真的還太少. 跟那些有落實"揭弊者保護"的先進國家一比真的差多了
p.s. "揭弊者保護" 在美國已是大生意. 如果用 whistleblower lawyer 去 google, 可以發現一大堆法律事務所都專攻這業務. 也就是說, 侵害爆料員工權益的雇主是必須賠大錢的
whistle-blower
Line breaks: whistle-blowerDerivatives
- To cover, protect, or seal with a cap.
- To award a special cap to as a sign of rank or achievement: capped the new women nurses at graduation.
- To lie over or on top of; cover: hills capped with snow.
- To apply the finishing touch to; complete: cap a meal with dessert.
- To follow with something better; surpass or outdo: capped his last trick with a disappearing act that brought the audience to its feet.
- To set an upper limit on: decided to cap cost-of-living increases
delist[de・list]
- 発音記号[diːlíst]
[動](他)
1 …を目録から削除する.
2 〈ある証券の〉特定の取引所における上場を廃止する.endoscope[en・do・scope]
- 発音記号[éndəskòup]
[名]
1 《医学》内視［直達, 内達］鏡.
2 （真珠鑑別用の）検査鏡.
en・dós・co・py
[名]
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