Tokyo metropolitan¹ police have launched an investigation² into Olympus for the possible violation³ of financial laws.

东京警察局已对奥林巴斯展开调查，据悉该公司可能触犯了金融法律。

The camera-maker would not comment on the reports when contacted by the BBC.

Japan's securities and exchange surveillance（监督，监视） commission (SEC) said it was also looking into the case.

Olympus executives have admitted to hiding huge losses from investments over decades.

The company's shares were not trading when markets opened on Thursday because of a glut⁴ of sell orders. The shares were marked down by their daily limit to 484 yen⁵, a decline of 17%.

Questionable⁶ payments

The scandal first made headlines last month, when the former chief executive of Olympus, Michael Woodford, alleged⁷ that the company had not properly accounted for large sums paid to financial advisers⁸ related to mergers⁹ and acquisitions（企业并购） .

He said he was fired when he questioned these payments.

Olympus first denied any wrongdoing and asked an external panel to investigate.

However, on Tuesday, Olympus stunned¹⁰（使震惊） financial markets by publicly admitting it had used money from these payments to cover up substantial investment losses for decades.

Olympus put the blame on three of its senior executives, including former president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa.

Since then, Olympus shares have been in a free fall, shedding 20% on Wednesday and 30% the day before.