The goings-on at Olympus were baffling three weeks ago. Michael Woodford, the Japanese company’s British president, was fired and then disclosed details of some very odd deals. Something was badly awry but it was hard to fathom why Olympus had wasted $1.4bn on three tiny acquisitions and a ludicrously inflated advisory fee.
Things became clearer, but even more disturbing, this week. Shuichi Takayama, Mr Woodford’s successor, bowed twice at a formal apology in Tokyo as he revealed a two decade-long effort inside the boardroom to conceal investment losses dating back to the 1990s. These had been written off against acquisitions.
It is still possible to believe that the accused trio of directors, headed by Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the former chairman of the camera and medical equipment company, thought they were behaving honourably. They may have seen it as a duty to hide failure discreetly and not to make their predecessors lose face.