Olympus’ top India exec found dead

NEW DELHI - Reuters

A guard stands at the exit of a residence complex where Omori was found dead. AP photo

A top executive of Japan’s scandal-ridden Olympus Corp was found hanging outside his apartment in suburban Delhi in a likely suicide, police said yesterday.

Tsutomu Omori, 49, head of the company’s medical equipment business in India, appeared to have killed himself late on Feb. 19, Lal Singh, investigating officer of Gurgaon Police told Reuters.

There was no immediate suggestion his death was linked to a $1.7 billion fraud that has rocked corporate Japan and led to the arrest of senior executives in Tokyo.

“At this stage of the probe, it looks like he committed suicide. One of his company executives told us he was depressed for the last two weeks,” Singh said, adding that the Japanese Embassy was informed of the death on Feb. 20.

Two handwritten notes, one in Japanese and the other in English, were discovered at Omori’s home in Gurgaon. “I am sorry for bothering you,” the note in English, read, according to Singh.

The police officer said his team had not yet translated the note written in Japanese. An official at the Japanese embassy told Reuters the mission was aware of the ongoing probe.

“The police told us on Feb. 20 that a Japanese national’s body was found in a park outside his apartment,” the diplomat said.

Earlier this month, Tokyo police arrested seven top executives of Olympus Corp for their alleged involvement in the accounting fraud, one of Japan’s biggest corporate scandals in recent times.