Japan premier weighs into Olympus row

Japan's prime minister has weighed into the controversy engulfing Olympus by calling for clarification about a string of controversial payments exposed by the camera group's ousted chief executive. In an interview with the Financial Times that represents an unusual intervention by a Japanese politician in day-to-day business affairs, Yoshihiko Noda said he feared the outcry over vast payments to little-known offshore advisers could be seen as representative of wider governance problems in the country. "What worries me is that it will be a problem if people take the events at this one Japanese company and generalise from that to say Japan is a country that [does not follow] the rules of capitalism," he said. "Japanese society is not that kind of society." The crisis at Olympus began this month when Michael Woodford said he had been fired as chief executive for exposing $687m (£430m) in advisory fees paid on a $2bn takeover in 2008. The level of fees was well in excess of the market rate. In a move to ease mounting shareholder pressure, Olympus announced it would establish an independent panel to investigate. Noda added: "I want them to fully clarify the facts and act on them appropriately." Last week Olympus chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa said he was stepping down, just one day after he launched a personal attack on Woodford.