Universal to pursue criminal complaint in HK vs Kazuo Okada

Jul 13, 2022 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck  

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Japanese entertainment conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp said in a Tuesday statement that it would pursue a criminal complaint in Hong Kong (pictured) against Kazuo Okada and what it termed his “collaborators”, in relation to Mr Okada’s physical takeover on May 31, of the Okada Manila casino resort in the Philippine capital.

Universal Entertainment said it was seeking to take action in Hong Kong, because a company registered in that city – Tiger Resort Asia Ltd – holds “99.9 percent” of the voting rights of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc (TRLEI), a Philippine firm that is the operating entity of Okada Manila.

Universal Entertainment and Japanese businessman Mr Okada – who founded that company but was ousted from it in 2017 – are currently disputing control of TRLEI via the Philippine Supreme Court. In 2017, Mr Okada had also been ousted from the board of TRLEI, but an April ruling from the Philippine Supreme Court said the composition of the TRLEI board should be returned to how it was before his ejection.

In its latest statement on the fallout from the physical takeover of Okada Manila, Universal Entertainment claimed “serious violation of Hong Kong law” by “Mr Okada and his collaborators” in relation to Tiger Resort Asia Ltd, “including falsification of official documents, fraud and embezzlement”.

Universal Entertainment asserted: “…the facts that Tiger Resort Asia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company [Universal Entertainment] and that the directors of Tiger Resort Asia are appointed by the company are recognised by the authorities under Hong Kong law and registered and publicly disclosed in Hong Kong.”

In the same Tuesday release, Universal Entertainment said it would delay disclosure of the second-quarter fiscal results of Okada Manila, which had originally been scheduled for August 9.

This was because Mr Okada and his associates had “refused to provide any information” to Universal Entertainment. Mr Okada and his party had continued to “occupy” Okada Manila, the Japanese company noted.

“With respect to this situation, the company group has established achieving the reclaiming of the Okada Manila [resort] and the normalisation of its operation solely through legal means, as its basic policy,” Universal Entertainment stated.

On Monday the opposing factions made claim and counterclaim regarding which could take credit for Okada Manila’s June casino gross gaming revenue.

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