Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI), controller of the Okada Manila casino resort (pictured) in the Philippine capital, says it is “business as usual” at the property, as it fights a legal move by its founder Japanese entrepreneur Kazuo Okada to return to the Tiger Resort board, from which he was ousted five years ago.
“TRLEI will continue to operate business as usual, providing the highest quality of service to our guests and patrons as we welcome them back to Okada Manila from the pandemic lockdown,” said the controlling entity of Okada Manila, in a Thursday statement.
Tiger Resort added it had filed a motion to the Philippine Supreme Court, asking that body to revoke an order the latter made, that would have the effect of restoring Mr Okada to the Tiger Resort board.
The Thursday statement from Tiger Resort said: “The Philippine Supreme Court’s issuance of a status quo ante order, a temporary measure, does not change the ownership structure of TRLEI, nor will it impact our operations.”
According to a document seen by GGRAsia, on April 27, the Supreme Court had issued the order, so as to “restore” the status of the Tiger Resort board to how it was in 2017.
Tiger Resort – a Philippines-registered entity – is controlled by Japanese conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp, a business also founded by Mr Okada.
In June 2017, the entrepreneur was ousted from Universal Entertainment’s board, accused of fraud. He denied the allegations. He was also removed from the board of Tiger Resort.
Since then, Mr Okada has been trying to regain control of Universal Entertainment, and its subsidiary Tiger Resort.
Tiger Resort said in its Thursday statement: “We believe TRLEI has strong legal basis for the revocation of the status quo order.”
The firm added: “Our parent company, Tiger Resort Asia Ltd, a Hong Kong company, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Entertainment Corp, a Japanese company.”
The statement continued: “The removal of Mr Kazuo Okada as chairman, chief executive, director, and nominal stockholder of TRLEI in 2017 was valid and legal. It was done upon the instructions of our parent company.”
Tiger Resort added: “In the Philippines, both the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals confirmed the validity and legality of his removal.”
The company further asserted: “We would like to highlight that any issue on Mr Okada’s removal can only be decided in Japan. In fact, the Japanese Supreme Court issued a final decision in 2020 affirming the validity and legality of Mr. Okada’s removal from TRLEI.”
