TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power
said on Tuesday it will hike electricity rates for
businesses by 17 percent on average, putting more stress on
beleaguered Japanese companies as it struggles to pay the costs
of the disaster at its Fukushima nuclear plant.

Japanese firms already pay higher prices for power than
competitors based in China and South Korea, and a Daiwa
Institute of Research report last August estimated that a 20
percent rise in electricity rates nationwide would cut
industrial output by 4.7 percent and GDP by 1.4 percent.

TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) – An unofficial panel of
experts cleared global accounting groups KPMG and Ernst & Young
of any responsibility for a $1.7 billion accounting fraud at
Japan’s Olympus Corp on Tuesday, though the role of the
firms remained under official review.

The scandal, one of corporate Japan’s worst, had raised
questions over the role of the two audit firms, which signed off
on the accounts of the maker of medical equipment and cameras
before the 13-year fraud finally surfaced in October.

TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Accounting groups KPMG and
Ernst & Young have been cleared of responsibility for a $1.7
billion accounting fraud at Japan’s Olympus Corp, one
of the nation’s worst corporate scandals, in a report issued on
Tuesday by a company-appointed panel of lawyers.

The panel placed the blame on five current and former
internal auditors, which it said were responsible for 8.4
billion yen ($109 million) in damages.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s disgraced Olympus Corp is suing 19 current and former executives, including its current president, for up to almost $50 million in compensation, as it struggles to recover from one of the nation’s worst accounting scandals.

The maker of cameras and medical equipment said on Tuesday all board members subject to the lawsuit would quit in March or April, leaving it in the extraordinary position for now of continuing with its most senior executive, Shuichi Takayama, and several other directors it is suing for mismanagement.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s disgraced Olympus Corp is suing 19 current and former executives, including its current president, for up to almost $50 million in compensation, as it struggles to recover from one of the nation’s worst accounting scandals.

The maker of cameras and medical equipment said on Tuesday all board members subject to the lawsuit would quit in March or April, leaving it in the extraordinary position for now of continuing with its most senior executive, Shuichi Takayama, and several other directors it is suing for mismanagement.

TOKYO, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Japan’s disgraced Olympus
Corp is suing 19 current and former executives,
including its current president, for up to almost $50 million in
compensation, as it struggles to recover from one of the
nation’s worst accounting scandals.

The maker of cameras and medical equipment said on Tuesday
all board members subject to the lawsuit would quit in March or
April, leaving it in the extraordinary position for now of
continuing with its most senior executive, Shuichi Takayama, and
several other directors it is suing for mismanagement.

BANGKOK/TOKYO (Reuters) – As Myanmar emerges from a half century of isolation, Asian companies with high tolerance for risk are sizing up business opportunities in what was once one of Asia’s wealthiest nations.

But ‘first mover’ advantage won’t necessarily count for much.

Shares in Singapore’s Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd have more than trebled to 4-year highs in the past month after the company said it would develop land north of former capital Yangon into a project known as “Star City” that will include housing estates and shopping malls targeting a new middle class.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano on Tuesday urged Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T: Quote, Profile, Research), operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, to consider temporarily going under state control, in the first official hint at a long speculated de facto nationalisation.

Japan’s biggest utility, also known as Tepco, faces massive compensation and cleanup costs after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11 triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima plant, putting the firm’s future in doubt.

TOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Japanese trade minister
Yukio Edano will urge Tokyo Electric Power Co, the
operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, on Tuesday to
accept a public fund injection and a de facto nationalisation,
the Nikkei business daily reported.

Japan’s biggest utility is saddled with huge compensation
and cleanup costs after a massive earthquake and tsunami in
March triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at
the Fukushima plant, putting the firm’s independence in doubt.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it will raise corporate customers’ electricity rates in April and seek approval to hike household rates as soon as possible, as it struggles with hefty thermal fuel costs after the Fukushima crisis curbed its nuclear power output.

Japan’s largest power utility said it would inform customers about the specifics of the rate increases in January, although the Nikkei business daily reported that Tepco planned a one-fifth increase.