Olympus faces SFO prosecution - FT.com Olympus is to be prosecuted by the UK anti-fraud agency in the first international charges levelled at the Japanese optical-equipment and camera maker after a $1.7bn accounting scandal. The manufacturer and Gyrus, a UK subsidiary, are to be prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office on allegations that "certain representations" made to Gyrus's auditors in its accounts for 2009 and 2010 were "misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular," according to a statement by Olympus on Wednesday. IN Industrial Goods Gyrus faces four charges and Olympus faces one charge on allegations they made misleading, false or deceptive statements to an auditor, the SFO added in an announcement shortly afterwards. The alleged offences are said to have taken place between April 2010 and March 2011. The watchdog launched an investigation into suspicious payments at the company in late 2011 after it ousted its British chief executive officer, Michael Woodford, who had raised concerns over more than $1bn in adviser fees. The firm's acquisition of Gyrus, a UK-based medical equipment company it had purchased for $2.2bn in 2008, was one of the main deals called into question. Olympus later admitted that it had used acquisition payments as cover to dispose of investment losses it had been hiding since the 1990s. The Olympus affair is now known as one of Japan's largest accounting scandals, having shone an unflattering light on its corporate governance and attracted global interest due to the role of a former chief executive as the whistleblower. Liverpool-born Mr Woodford, who was sacked just two weeks into his tenure, later reached an out-of-court settlement for unfair dismissal. Last year three former Olympus executives pleaded guilty in Japan to filing false financial reports in connection with the accounting scandal. In the first criminal prosecution arising from the affair, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who ran Olympus for a decade as president and later chairman, and former executives Hisashi Mori and Hideo Yamada admitted lying to regulators and shareholders to hide more than Y100bn of losses on investments made by the company. They were handed suspended sentences by a Tokyo court in July. "As it is difficult to predict the outcome of this matter or estimate the level of fines that may be imposed on the company and GGL [Gyrus Group Limited], the potential financial impact of this prosecution on Olympus group's business is unclear," the company said. It added it has been co-operating fully with the SFO's investigation. The first hearing will take place at Westminster Magistrates" Court on September 10. David Green, director of the SFO, had signalled earlier this week that he was prepared to bring more corporate prosecutions under his leadership. The charges signal the first major prosecution of a corporate since Mr Green took over as director of the SFO in April 2012 and will be a major boon to an agency that has been under fire of late. At the time of his arrival, Mr Green signalled a desire to shift away from the pragmatic deal-doing that characterised the tenure of his predecessor, Richard Alderman. But since then, despite taking on investigations into Barclays, an EADS subsidiary and ENRC, he has not overseen any major SFO prosecution of a company until today. Shares in Olympus closed down 2.9 per cent at Y2,798 in Tokyo. Additional reporting by Caroline Binham