TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A 44-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly selling illegal drugs to former Olympus Corp. CEO Stefan Kaufmann, police said Friday.

Takaaki Kaneko, a photographer living in Tokyo, has been arrested on suspicion of selling cocaine and the synthetic drug MDMA to Kaufmann multiple times in the capital from September 2022 through February this year, police said.

Olympus said late last month that Kaufmann, a German national who became its CEO in 2023, stepped down following an allegation that he had purchased illegal drugs. Police searched his residence in June, but no illegal drugs were found, investigative sources said.