Sacked Olympus boss demands board resign

The former Olympus chief executive, Michael Woodford, is to come face-to-face with the board that ousted him and demand they all resign to prevent further damage to the company.

The Briton, who was fired two weeks after his appointment as chief executive of the precision equipment and camera group, said: "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 the game was up: "Do the decent thing; stop damaging the company. Don't look for self-interest, look for the 45,000 people." He added: "Have some shame, have some dignity, that's what I want to tell them."

Shuichi Takayama, president of Olympus, said the management team "will be ready to stand aside once Olympus is on track for recovery". Yet, it seemed unlikely that the whole board would be immediately replaced. The president said: "If we change the management in this situation, we cannot take a prompt action for the piled-up subjects, therefore we cannot overcome the imminent risk facing us."

He admitted that after the group revealed it had been hiding losses for decades, Olympus and its stakeholders had been left "in confusion". Yesterday, several of the executives behind the move to oust Woodford resigned. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former president and chairman of Olympus, had resigned last month but retained a position at the group, as did vice-president Hisashi Mori even though he had been fired. Olympus said it had received their resignation letters, as well as that of corporate auditor Hideo Yamada.

Woodford flew into Japan on Wednesday for talks with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, public prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. It was the first time he had returned to the country since he fled in fear for his safety after raising "serious governance concerns" over four transactions made by the firm.

"The talks 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 said.

Olympus president Takayama said the steps to rehabilitate the company included a thorough investigation of the events around the "deferred posting of losses" and calling the managers to account.

The company admitted it was "on the verge" of being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange because it has failed to publish its accounts. It has until December 14 to do so or will be removed from the market. Independent