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Three former Olympus Corp. executives and four others were arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law through falsifying financial statements.

Those arrested were former Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori, and former company auditor Hideo Yamada.

Prosecutors also arrested Akio Nakagawa. Nakagawa was cited in a December panel report as having aided Olympus in structuring its loss-hiding schemes. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department also arrested longtime Olympus financial adviser Nobumasa Yokoo, Taku Hada and Hiroshi Ono in connection with the case.

The arrests came around three months after the Japanese maker of cameras and endoscopes said the executives had been responsible for hiding more than $1.5 billion in investment losses for 13 years.

"We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities to uncover the facts," an Olympus spokesman told the Wall Street Journal, adding that the company takes the situation "seriously."

Separately, investigations into the matter are continuing in the U.S. and U.K.

The camera maker is striving to revamp its management, shore up its finances and regain investor trust after admitting in November that it had concealed $1.5 billion in investment losses for more than a decade.

The independent panel investigating the scandal said in December that the loss-hiding scheme was approved by Kikukawa and his predecessor, Masatoshi Kishimoto, while each was president. Neither have commented on the panel's findings.

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