The scandal at Olympus seems to be approaching the end game.<br/> <br />Japanese prosecutors arrested seven men in Tokyo on Thursday, including former company president Tsu-yoshi Kiku-kawa. The seven were held over their roles in a 1.7 billion dollar accounting fraud at the technology firm.<br/> <br />The scandal came to light when then-chief executive Michael Woodford queried some dubious takeover deals conducted by the company.<br/> <br />At a news conference in London today, Woodford said the arrests still left a lot of questions unanswered:<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Michael Woodford, former Olympus CEO saying (English)<br/> <br />"Today does demonstrate that there is a seriousness in Japan to investigate what has happened, but there are still many important issues which are not covered by today's announcement. Firstly, the banks -- these were huge amounts of money and we need to understand to what extent the banks were involved."<br/> <br />Woodford was a rare foreign CEO in Japan. Now attention turns to finding a new boss for the company. Likely candidates include three board members that an investigative panel says weren't involved in the fraud. Whoever is chosen, Woodford says corporate Japan as a whole needs to clean up its act:<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: Michael Woodford, former Olympus CEO saying (English)<br/> <br />"Transparency and oppenness is the most important thing in ensuring that this tale and all its tentacles is purged and cleansed in the right way."<br/> <br />The future for Olympus remains uncertain, but its lucrative medical endoscope business means it could become a takeover target. Sony and Fujifilm are mentioned as possible buyers, but any potential suitor will first want to see that the company has put a troubled past behind it.<br/> <br />Julian Satterthwaite, Reuters
