Olympus ordered to pay back £40m in taxes
Olympus is to pay back about £40m that it owes in back taxes and penalties from its 2008 purchase of British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group
TOKYO’S REGIONAL taxation bureau has ordered Olympus to pay back about ¥5bn (£40m) that it owes in back taxes and penalties from its 2008 purchase of British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group.
The bureau told Olympus to pay the liability, which is linked to a ¥15bn advisory fee the company claimed it received in relation to the acquisition of Gyrus. The fee was actually used to cover losses at the firm, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported.
Former Olympus chief executive Michael Woodford was ousted from the company last year after he publicly questioned suspicious merger and acquisition payments.
He settled an unfair dismissal and discrimination claim against the camera maker for £10m in June.
In January, auditors KPMG and Ernst & Young were cleared of any responsibility for the accounting black hole discovered at Olympus.