国际英语新闻:Former Olympus CEO confident truth will emerge about money scandal

TOKYO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Former Olympus Corp. CEO Michael Woodford on Thursday said that he believed authorities would uncover the truth about the firm's involvement in covering up massive investment losses dating back to the 1990s and that investigations by prosecutors, the police and the securities commission would be carried out objectively.

"It is very evident to me that they are going to investigate this whole issue without bias and thoroughly, including following the money flows in relation to all the transactions," Woodford told reporters after meeting with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday.

Woodford was ousted as the company's president on Oct. 14 for going public about the optical and life sciences equipment maker's acquisition of British firm Gyrus Group Plc. and the inordinately high fees paid to little-known consultants based in the Cayman Islands.

The former Olympus chief subsequently fled to the United Kingdom on advice from a friend to ensure his security and Britain 's Serious Fraud Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are currently looking into the case. Both local and international media have reported that the disgraced firm has been in cahoots with well-know organized crime syndicates here.

Earlier on Thursday Woodford, on his first trip back to Japan since he was ousted, also met with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and the secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission -- Japan's financial market watchdog.

"I have several files I wish to give them," he told reporters outside the Ministry of Justice in Tokyo. "I want to provide information and have dialogue," Woodford said.

Following his meeting with senior prosecutors, Woodford said that he felt more confident than he had originally expected to that the truth of the scandal would finally be revealed.

"With what I've been told, I'm much more confident than I thought I would be," he said. "I want the truth to come out. I am encouraged that so many people in Japan really understand and care for this issue," Woodford said.

Olympus' losses, according to some media reports, may have amounted to more than 100 billion yen (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) and Woodford said that current Olympus President Shuichi Takayama' s explanation that the large payments in question were to hide losses "is totally unsatisfactory."

"We don't know how big the investment losses were, we don't know who received the money from Olympus and we don't know who the company has been acquainted with," Woodford said.

On Nov. 8 Olympus Corp. for the first time admitted that some of its executives had deliberately concealed decades of losses by paying advisors exorbitant fees, having originally denied all accusations and dismissed their ousting of Woodford claiming that the CEO, who had been with the Japanese group for 30 years, didn't understand Japanese business culture or the firm's management style.

On Friday Woodford, who remains a director at Olympus, will meet with the company's board and the firm's big shareholders have called for Woodford to be reinstated as the company's CEO.

Takayama previously announced that among three senior Olympus executives involved in concealing the firm's losses, former Olympus Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa was culpable, as was Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori. The firm's auditor Hideo Yamada was also involved.

Woodford himself has vociferously called for the resignation en masse of the Olympus board on a number of different occasions.

"I want to take this opportunity to look the directors in the eye and tell them what I think is the best for the company," he said.

"I just hope that they understand that the game is up. Have some shame, have some dignity, that's what I want to tell them," said Woodford.

Takayama has indicated that the firm has no immediate plans to reinstate Woodford, despite Woodford saying he was open to the idea, as well as saying he didn't wish the firm's sock to be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Following his meetings in Tokyo, Woodford is scheduled to travel to the United States for similar talks with authorities there investigating the scandal-plagued firm.