Ex-banker admits role in Olympus fraud case

A former Singaporean banker pleaded guilty in federal court in to helping Japan's Olympus orchestrate a US$1.7 billion accounting fraud.

Prosecutors said Chan Ming Fon helped to secretly liquidate hundreds of millions of dollars of Olympus investments over six years and then lied to auditors, certifying the investments still existed.

Chan, 50, described through an interpreter in court how he provided false information to an auditor about an Olympus-backed investment portfolio he managed. He said he led the auditor to believe the portfolio was safe, when the assets had actually been liquidated and transferred to another entity to repay an undisclosed loan.

"I know that I participated in the previously described transactions, and I acknowledge that my conduct was wrong," said Chan, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Before working for Olympus, Chan was a banker at Commerzbank and Societe Generale.

He was the first executive from outside Japan to be indicted over the accounting scandal at Olympus, a 93-year-old maker of cameras and medical devices.