( CNN ) -- The scandal-hit Olympus Corp. will appoint a board to decide whether the Japanese company should take legal action and file criminal complaints against executives who helped hide $ 1.7 billion in losses , the company president said Wednesday . The comments from Olympus President Shuichi Takayama come a day after the findings of a scathing independent panel report that suggested the Japanese company `` should remove its malignant cancer . `` The management was rotten to the core , and infected those around it , '' the panel 's report said . The panel , led by a former Japanese Supreme Court judge , detailed $ 1.7 billion of hidden losses from failed investments in the 1990s by the camera and medical equipment maker . The report , issued Tuesday , blasted the culture of the company that allowed the losses to be disguised in dubious fees and overvalued payments for companies , as well as the tight control of former company Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa . Olympus has lost half its share value in the wake of the October 14 firing of former CEO Michael Woodford , the first foreigner to lead the company , after Woodford questioned the company 's accounting . After Woodford went public with his claims , the company 's share value dropped by as much as 75 % . Three former executives , including Kikukawa , have since resigned from the company 's management . `` One had to be prepared to be kicked out of the company in order to make objection even if it was the right thing to do ( this is also apparent in how Woodford was treated ) , '' the panel wrote in its report . The panel reiterated its earlier announcement that their investigation found no link to `` anti-social forces , '' a euphemism to Japanese organized crime . Company officials said in a statement that the report `` includes both new revelations and recommendations on the future management of Olympus ( and ) will be taken into serious consideration by the company . '' The independent panel recommended the resignation of the entire Olympus board . Takayama said at Wednesday 's press conference that he and the board will resign but not until the `` exact responsibilities '' of wrongdoing are revealed by investigators . Resignations and changes to company management would likely come after a shareholder 's meeting sometime in February . The company faces a December 14 deadline to resubmit its financial statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange or face delisting . Company officials have repeatedly said they will turn in the required documents before next week 's deadline . The Olympus saga started with a five-page expose in Japanese magazine FACTA -- a small circulation magazine that has only nine people on staff -- on July 20 that raised questions over advisory fees of $ 687 million paid in 2008 for the purchase of Gyrus , a UK medical instruments firm . The article also questioned the $ 773 million paid for three small Japanese companies -- a face cream maker , a plastic container maker and a recycling business , each with fewer than 50 employees . Woodford has led a public campaign since his dismissal to get rid of the company board , and has said he would return to run the company if asked . `` The panel 's report has made one thing painfully clear : the massive scale of the malfeasance from which the present directors and statutory auditors persistently averted their gaze , '' Woodford said in a statement . `` I sought to call attention to the wrongdoing through a series of six letters in English and Japanese , copied to all the members of the board , and through the submission of a damning report by Price Waterhouse Coopers . Yet not a single director stood up in support of my efforts to expose what had taken place . '' Takayama said the board will decide whether to bring Woodford back at the next shareholders meeting . `` Woodford did what we all could n't do , so we praise him for that , '' Takayama said . Freelance producer Nicolas Ito contributed to this report .
NEW : Olympus board will appoint a panel to decide on legal action against ex-executives . An independent panel report said Olympus Corp. `` should remove its malignant cancer '' The panel detailed $ 1.7 billion of hidden losses from failed investments in the 1990s . Report : `` The management was rotten to the core , and infected those around it ''