Biz Buzz: Okada’s inside info
Japanese businessman
Kazuo Okada may have been booted out of the Tiger Resorts board which he used to chair, but the socalled “Pachinko King” still has some tricks up his sleeve.
Dirty tricks? That’s what the people at Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc.—operator of Okada Manila casino hotel—are worried about.
Recall that the firm sued Okada not too long ago for estafa and perjury, alleging that the businessman misappropriated as much as $7 million in company funds due to various anomalies. They also had local authorities put him on the Bureau of Immigration’s travel watchlist.
Imagine the surprise of the Tiger Resorts brass when, on May 18, they were informed that a certain Chloe Kim— supposedly a “close companion” of Okada—posted on her Facebook and Instagram accounts a screen shot of the Parañaque City prosecutors’ office resolution dismissing the estafa complaints against the businessman.
So what’s wrong with that? Well, those court resolutions weren’t even officially released yet, according to Tiger Resorts’ lawyers.
How Okada’s “close companion” got a copy of the decisions—and even posting in her captions a celebratory message that “the devils will go to hell soon,” presumably referring to the complainants at Tiger Resorts—is a big mystery to the casino firm. (Those posts have since been deleted.)
To make sure that Okada’s plans to return to his former company are foiled ( and the money of investors protected), Tiger Resorts now wants Parañaque City Prosecutor
Amerhassan Paudac to recuse himself from the case.
“There is factual and legal bases to believe that Paudac is biased and partial in favor of Okada, to the grave prejudice of Tiger Resorts,” the firm said in its latest petition. “Paudac must therefore inhibit himself from the cases.”
Oh, and we hear Tiger Resorts will also be hauling Paudac before the Ombudsman for this. But are they any match for the ways and means of the Japanese businessman? Abangan!—
Ceza’s auto showroom
Cagayan Valley’s Port Irene, once known as a car smuggling haven, has turned a new leaf. Gone are the days when the valley operated like an “independent republic.”
The trafficking of all those luxury vehicles has completely stopped, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) administrator and chief executive officer Raul Lambino has assured, adding that most of the vehicles had been seized.
Lambino said the Ceza had wrecked some of the cars—in line with a directive from Malacañang—but over 800 vehicles have yet to be destroyed. These include an array of Lamborghinis, Porsches, BMWs, Hummers, Range Rovers, Land Rovers and Land Cruisers. We can only imagine that Ceza’s auto warehouse is much richer than the collection seized and destroyed earlier this year in Manila.
The Palace directive is to destroy them, Lambino said, but the Ceza may ask for exemption so that some of the cars may be donated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police. Not the Lamborghinis or Porsches, but the Hummers, Range Rovers, Land Rovers or Land Cruises which can be useful for surveillance, warfare or day-to-day operations.
What the Ceza has ruled out is the option of bidding out these luxury vehicles. “We don’t want to gain anything from poisoned food,” Lambino said.
As to whether men in uniform deploy some of these cars, that’s up to the Palace.—
Still planning
It appears the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) cable car project is alive and well.
An update was dropped rather causally by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade during the Asia CEO Forum this week.
Recall that the cable car was among the earliest traffic-busting proposals of the DOTr. It was meant to augment road congestion in Metro Manila (along Pasig river) and other locations such as Boracay and Baguio.
At one point, the DOTr said it was seeking the support of the French government. Then all of a sudden, it disappeared from public view.
During the forum, Tugade told participants: “I have not forgotten about the cable car.”
In fact, details are being finalized and one of the major points of discussion is the fare. Tugade said he wanted the rate more or less similar to other means of public transport to make it affordable to the public.
Will it happen? Well, there’s a lot on the DOTr’s plate at the moment. Still, it’s a nice thought and hopefully it progresses beyond that.
Wedon’t want to gain anything from poisoned food Raul Lambino Ceza administrator and CEO