Olympus fires Korea head for embezzlement

By Kim Yoo-chul

Olympus Corp., a leading Japanese camera and medical equipment maker, said Tuesday that it had dismissed its Korea chief Bang Il-seok for alleged embezzlement and breach of duty, on June 6. The firm plans to sue the disgraced former chief executive of its Korean operation.

Olympus headquarters in Japan has already sent an audit team to Seoul and the team is in the middle of carrying out an independent investigation to find ``critical evidences’’ associated with his wrongdoing.

``It’s true that Bang was fired last week. We don’t know yet who will be the next chief executive to lead Olympus Korea,’’ said Cho Hye-young, the head of public relations there by telephone, Tuesday.

Cho confirmed that the Korean office has been under deep scrutiny by the audit team since last week.

The spokeswoman declined to confirm whether or not Bang was being investigated over direct involvement in stealing company money. But Olympus insiders said the audit team is wrapping up its internal probe as it has secured enough documents and files to prove his misconduct.

The officials also said Olympus headquarters is interviewing executives to choose the next country head to replace Bang and the official announcement will be coming soon.

Bang has denied all the allegations. His legal representatives are claiming that Olympus wants to control the cash abundant- Korean office.

Olympus is still creating ``big money’’ here by selling medical equipment and digital cameras. ``The decision by Tokyo does not make any sense. The headquarters has ignored all necessary steps. Tokyo insists Bang has illegally embezzled company funds without evidences,’’ said an official from legal counsel Barun, which represents Bang.

Bang started his top job in early 2000 in Olympus as the first Korean CEO after his previous experience in Samsung Electronics Japan. Bang has helped Olympus emerge as the nation’s top digital camera company during his tenure since the establishment of the Korea operation.

Although Olympus was struggling in the race for digital cameras in the local market attacked by Samsung Electronics and Sony, it is still showing a robust performance thanks to healthy sales of its medical equipment, according to officials.

Born in 1963, Bang earned a bachelor’s degree from Seoul’s Chung Ang University in electronic engineering.

Olympus has recently been staggering since Michael Woodford, the former Olympus CEO, blew the whistle on accounting fraud at the firm. The company recently said that it plans to axe 2,500 staff and sell a stake to either Sony or Panasonic.