GGRAsia – Philippine court issues arrest order for Kazuo Okada, others

Philippine court issues arrest order for Kazuo Okada, others

Jul 12, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

A Paranaque court in the Philippines has ordered the arrest of Japanese gaming entrepreneur Kazuo Okada (pictured in a file photo) and some other people for alleged “qualified theft” during the three-month period that his group physically took over the premises of the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippine capital. That is according to a statement from the management of Okada Manila sent to GGRAsia.

Supporters of Mr Okada physically occupied the premises of the casino resort for a time starting on May 31 last year. Japan-based conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp, the parent of Okada Manila, said in a September 4 statement that it had taken back control of the property.

In a Wednesday statement, the Okada Manila side said that the Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 had “ordered the arrest of Kazuo Okada and his cohorts for siphoning money from Okada Manila during their forceful takeover of the integrated casino resort last year”.

The court ordered the issuance of the warrants of arrest against Mr Okada, as well as Antonio Cojuangco, Dindo Espeleta, and 10 others “for qualified theft”, according to the release.

Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc, the promoter of Okada Manila, had accused Mr Okada and his representatives of “qualified theft, after siphoning money amounting to a total of about PHP500 million [US$9.1 million] from the casino cage of Okada Manila in 2022”.

The statement said the judge “denied [the] motions to suspend or defer the criminal proceedings against all of the accused”, notwithstanding an appeal before the country’s Department of Justice.

It added: “The Paranaque court denied the motions and decided to proceed with the case, explaining that ‘there is probable cause for the issuance of warrant of arrest against all the accused … The counter-allegations of the accused, being evidentiary in nature, are best threshed-out in a full-blown trial’.”

In February this year, Universal Entertainment said it recorded an extraordinary loss of nearly JPY1.53 billion (about US$11.0 million) for 2022, associated with what it called the “illegal occupation” of Okada Manila by people acting on behalf of Mr Okada.

In October, a panel of prosecutors from the Philippines’ Department of Justice indicted Mr Okada and a number of other people on allegations of “direct assault”, “grave coercion”, the causing of “slight physical injuries”, and “unjust vexation”, in relation with the take over of the casino complex.

Philippine police arrested Mr Okada on October 17 at Manila’s airport when he landed after a flight from Japan. The Japanese businessman was released on bail on the same day.