<p>TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's fraud prosecutor has charged Japan's Olympus Corp and its British subsidiary Gyrus with misleading or deceiving an auditor, dragging a $1.7 billion accounting scandal back into the spotlight two years after it first erupted.</p><p>Olympus, once one of Japan's most venerable companies, saw its shares and profits plunge after its former British CEO, Michael Woodford, alerted prosecutors and the media to a series of shady payments after being fired for questioning company accounts in 2011.</p><p>Since then the medical equipment to camera maker has swung back to profit, Sony Corp paid 50 billion yen ($500 million) to become its biggest shareholder this year and the company in July raised $1.2 billion in a share issue.</p><p>Olympus said earlier on Wednesday it expected Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to press charges, sending its shares down as much as 6.3 percent, although the stock recovered to end the day down 2.9 percent at 2,798 yen.</p><p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/04/us-olympus-fraud-idUSBRE9830HT20130904">Keep reading...</a></p>