Prosecutor dismisses 2 estafa cases vs Okada
Japanese gaming mogul Kazuo Okada scored twin legal victories against Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment, Inc., the company behind Okada Manila, one of three integrated casino resorts in Entertainment City, Parañaque.
In separate resolutions, the City Prosecutor’s office of Parañaque dismissed “for lack of probable cause” two estafa complaints against the gaming tycoon, who formerly owned casino firm Tiger Resort.
The first complaint alleged that Okada released $3.15 million in company funds to himself and several associates as salaries and consultancy fees.
The second case involved the payment of $7.09-million to Aruze Philippines Manufacturing, Inc., an Okada company that allegedly supplied defective LED strip lights to the casino.
In dismissing both complaints, state lawyers said the legal controversy partake the nature of intra-corporate disputes between the company and its officers which are civil in nature.
“A legal remedy may lie before appropriate forum/fora taking into consideration the intra corporate nature of the instant complaint but definitely not before this very Office since it only receives complaints that are criminal in nature,” City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac said on the first complaint.
The first case which was dismissed on May 11, involved Okada and Takahiro Usui, Tiger Resort’s former COO and president.
The company sued its two former executives for the alleged unauthorized release of $3.15 million in company funds supposedly as salaries and consultancy fees of Okada as chief executive officer.
The company claimed that Okada ordered the disbursement of its funds to himself through Usui’s “indispensable cooperation as president and chief operating officer by approving, causing and permitting payment to respondent Okada.”
The amount was released in tranches from April, 2017 to May 2017, but Tiger Resorts said its board of directors did not authorize such disbursement. The company filed the complaint because respondents allegedly failed to return the amount.
In his defense, Okada said he owns the money as his salary and consultancy fee and that receipt of the amount was proper and legal since respondent Usui had the authority to determine and approve the salary or compensation he was entitled to receive as company CEO and consultant.
The second complaint, which was dismissed last May 15, involved Tiger Resort and Okada, the latter’s company Aruze Phiilippines Manufacturing, Inc. and associates Kengo Takeda and Tetsuya Yokota.