Olympus Defends Fees Paid to Advisers.

Responding for the first time to accusations of fraud, the Olympus Corporation said that acquisition fees paid to unidentified advisers amounting to 30 billion yen ($391 million) were not excessive and followed ''appropriate'' accounting procedures. Last week, Olympus ousted its president, Michael C. Woodford, citing a management culture clash. Striking back, Mr. Woodford on Monday accused the company of wrongdoing, saying that it had paid $687 million, or a third of the purchase price, to two advisory companies related to its acquisition of the Gyrus Group in 2008. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the Olympus chairman, told the Nikkei newspaper that the actual amount was about $391 million, and the company issued a statement denying that the payments broke accounting rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]