The ousted boss of Olympus has given up on his attempts to regain control of the Japanese camera and medical equipment maker.
Michael Woodford was fired after highlighting accounting irregularities that sparked a police probe and stock-price slump.
After denying the accusations, Olympus eventually admitted it hid $1.5bn (£968m) of losses over twenty years.
Mr Woodford said his return had failed to win support from main shareholders.
“Despite my having done the right thing, none of the major Japanese institutional shareholders have offered one word of support to me,” Mr Woodford said in a statement.
Mr Woodford also claimed that the Olympus issue had caused his family and wife distress.
Current team
When the scandal broke, a number of theories were mooted about why the losses were covered up, including allegations of criminal activity.
At the start of December, an independent panel appointed by Olympus found that while the “core part of management was rotten”, there was no link to organised crime.
It said legal action should be taken against those involved in the cover up, adding that those who knew about the situation should be replaced.
Mr Woodford was trying to win support for himself and a new group of directors to take over the running of Olympus.
While Mr Woodford won the support of some shareholders, many of the company’s key investors still backed the current management, headed by chief executive Shuichi Takayama.
Olympus shares dropped more than 4% in early trading in Tokyo on Friday.
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