A short update on this. Olympus acknowledged the fault and sent the camera (to Germany, not Czeck Republic) for repair. After ~2 weeks I got a dispatch note from Olympus - I thought for a few moments my camera was back.
The pacel was damaged upon delivery, felt too lightweight compared to what one would expect. A quick inspection showed it had been opened, clumsly re-taped, and as I suspected contained no camera.
So I refused to accept the parcel, asked the Post office to send it back to sender, reported the incident to Olympus and am now in dialogue wiith them how they will resolve the issue.