A former brokerage executive who helped camera giant Olympus cover up years of huge financial losses was given a suspended jail sentence on Monday. Tokyo District Court gave Akio Nakagawa, 64, an 18-month sentence, suspended for three years, and fined him 7 million yen ($58,000) for helping three former Olympus executives falsify financial statements.
The three also received suspended prison terms in July last year for their part in engineering a scheme to hide about $1.7 billion in losses that had accumulated since the 1990s, by using outsized consulting fees and buying unrelated companies. "The cover-up was led by the Olympus side and Nakagawa played a subordinate role," presiding judge Hiroaki Saito said.
"The defendant played an important role by managing a fund for Olympus's cover-up, in return receiving expensive compensation," the judge said, after rejecting a not guilty plea. His role however "doesn't constitute collusion and is limited to assistance", Saito said.
Comments
Comments are closed.