Olympus CEO resigns over alleged purchase of illegal drugs

CEO Stefan Kaufmann was asked to resign following internal inquiry, Japanese firm says.

The foreign chief executive of Japan’s Olympus has resigned following an investigation into allegations he brought illegal drugs, the medical equipment maker has said.

CEO Stefan Kaufmann, who had led the company since April 2023, stepped down at the request of the board of directors, Olympus said in a statement on Monday.

Olympus said it initiated the investigation after receiving an allegation from an unspecified source.

“Based on the results of the investigation, the Board of Directors unanimously determined that Mr. Stefan Kaufmann likely engaged in behaviours that were inconsistent with our global code of conduct, our core values, and our corporate culture,” Olympus said in a statement.

Olympus chairman Yasuo Takeuchi will take the reins as CEO “for the time being” while the board’s nominating committee considers a permanent successor, the company said.

“Olympus apologises deeply for the concern this has caused to our shareholders, customers and all stakeholders,” the company added.

Kaufmann had served as a board member since 2019 and worked for the company since 2003.

The German national was the first non-Japanese executive to be appointed CEO of the company since Michael Woodford, the British executive who was fired in 2011 after blowing the whistle on colleagues for falsifying company records to conceal losses of $1.7bn.

Al Jazeera was unable to reach Kaufmann for comment.

Olympus shares fell more than 7 percent following the news.

Olympus, founded in Tokyo in 1919, was best known for making cameras before becoming a global leader in endoscopes.

Japan has strict laws against drug use that have ensnared foreign businesspeople in the past.

In 2015, Julie Hamp, an American public relations executive with Toyota Motor, spent nearly three weeks in a Tokyo prison after being arrested on suspicion of importing the painkiller oxycodone.