now This would - will ? make a good movie

W

Wallace

'Olympus chairman quits; Japan watchdog probes firm' by Taiga Uranaka

"TOKYO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Olympus Corp head Tsuyoshi Kikukawa resigned on
Wednesday after a scandal over hefty advisory fees wiped out half of the 92-year-
old firm's market value while his successor stuck with the company's line that it
had done nothing wrong.
Olympus fired its British chief executive, Michael Woodford, on Oct. 14, just two
weeks after his appointment as CEO, saying he failed to understand the company's
management style and Japanese culture. Kikukawa then took over Woodford's role.
Woodford, who cut his teeth at the camera and endoscope maker as a British
salesman when he joined in 1980, said he was sacked for questioning a $687
million advisory fee linked to a $2.2 billion takeover in 2008 as well as other deals
he says have destroyed about $1.3 billion of shareholder value.
He has called for the resignation of Olympus' entire board while sending dossiers
on odd-looking deals to Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Japan's
Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC). He is also in touch
with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was in New York on Wednesday
to meet with the agency.

Unanswered questions about the Gyrus deal and other Olympus acquisitions have
spurred various theories, including speculation Japan's yakuza crime syndicates,
euphemistically referred to as "anti-social forces," could be involved."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/olympus-idUSN1E7NP0X020111026

Mike Douglas is getting a bit long in the tooth but he could resurrect his 'Black Rain'
role, this time as an FBI investigator flitting between New York, the Cayman Islands
and Tokyo where the final showdown/shootout takes place
 
Quote from Wallace:

Mike Douglas is getting a bit long in the tooth but he could resurrect his 'Black Rain' role...
More...
Personally I think he's too old for it.
 
a little update

by Linda Sieg TOKYO | Tue Nov 8, 2011 9:42am GMT
'Analysis - Japan tries, again, to cut corporate ties to yakuza'
"(Reuters) - Aki Tsurumaki says he never felt his life was in danger during the 15
years he has been helping companies escape entanglements with Japan's
"yakuza" crime syndicates.
But the 42-year-old lawyer jokes that he does not take any chances, adding with
a smile, "I never stand near the edge of the train platform."
The dark and sometimes dangerous triad of ties among gangsters, businesses
and politicians has a long tradition in Japan, which helps explain why a scandal
engulfing Japan's Olympus Corp has stirred up media and market talk of possible
yakuza links, despite company denials and a lack of evidence.
Ousted Olympus CEO Michael Woodford has told Reuters he will not return to
Japan to meet investigators due to "security issues," although he declines to
spell out his fears. And Facta, a Japanese magazine that broke the Olympus
story, says a Cayman Islands firm linked to some Olympus deals had indirect
ties to "anti-social forces" -- a common euphemism for organised crime."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/...me=GCA-GoogleNewsUK&google_editors_picks=true
see also:
'Olympus admits hid losses for decades'
by Nathan Layne and Isabel Reynolds TOKYO | Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:04pm EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...Name=topNews&rpc=71&google_editors_picks=true
 
'Renowned Japanese temple refuses yakuza visits' by Junko Fujita
"TOKYO (Reuters) - Enryakuji Temple, one of Japan's most prestigious temples
near the ancient capital Kyoto, has refused to allow members of Japan's biggest
organised crime syndicate to pay their respects there an official said on Saturday.
The temple's refusal follows a request from police, who are cracking down on
yakuza gangsters nationwide. News of the temple's refusal was reported widely
by Japanese media amid speculation that organised crime was somehow involved
in an accounting scandal at Japan's disgraced Olympus (Xetra: 856840 - news).
Full and "associate" members totalled 80,900, down from 88,600 in 1990, of which
almost half were members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, which is based in Kobe in
western Japan."
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Renowned-Japanese-temple-reuters_molt-3671261874.html?x=0

'Yamaguchi-gumi': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaguchi-gumi
"Criminal activities: arms trafficking, assassinations, bank fraud, bid rigging,
blackmail, bookmaking, contract killing, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal
gambling, Internet pornography, loansharking, mail fraud, match fixing, money
laundering, mortgage fraud, murder, prostitution, racketeering, securities fraud,
sōkaiya *, wire fraud, and infiltration of legitimate businesses"
*Sōkaiya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sōkaiya
"Sōkaiya (sometimes also translated as corporate bouncers, meeting-men, or
corporate blackmailers) are a form of specialized racketeer unique to Japan, and
often associated with the yakuza that extort money from or blackmail companies
by threatening to publicly humiliate companies and their management, usually in
their annual meeting.
Companies that have bribed sōkaiya. Major companies that have been found guilty
of employing sōkaiya include but are not limited to:
Mitsubishi, including a number of arrests
Daiwa Securities Group
Nikko Securities
Nomura Securities Co., with three top executive pleading guilty for multi-million
dollar payments. In this case, the sōkaiya actually owned enough stock to propose
one of their choosing as a member for the board of directors. After the scandal came
to light, the entire board resigned.
Nippon Shinpan, forcing the president Yoji Yamada into retirement after various executives
paid up to ¥80 million (approx. US$850,000) to the subsequently arrested Kikuo Kondo
of the Sumiyoshi-kai, although police reports only ¥28.35 million.
Dai-Ichi Kangyo
The Tokyo Electric Power Company
Meiji Seika
 
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