Universal Entertainment Corporation’s wholly owned Hong Kong subsidiary Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRA) has filed a damages suit against its former board member Kazuo Okada to the tune of HK$136.05 million.
In an announcement, Universal revealed that it had filed the suit with the High Court of the Hong Kong SAR on 27 December 2017 “as a part of the damage suffered by the company due to his negligence of duty as a board member of the company in connection with misconducts by Mr Okada.”
It follows a similar suit filed directly by Universal with the Tokyo District Court exactly one month earlier on 27 November 2017.
This latest suit relates to two cases of alleged fraud by Mr Okada involving TRA funds. The first, which took place between February and March 2015, allegedly saw Mr Okada arrange a loan of HK$135 million from TRA to Goldluck Tech Limited to pay for artworks “without requesting any collateral and without imposing any interest to Goldluck Tech Limited,” Universal said. The funds were subsequently refunded to Okada Holdings – a company controlled by Mr Okada – with HK$120.05 million of the loan yet to be recovered by TRA.
The second case, in May 2015, allegedly saw Mr Okada issue a bearer check in the amount of HK$16 million from a bank account under the name of TRA before withdrawing the HK$16 million from TRA’s account three days later based on the check.
Universal said it will disclose any future developments in the case against Mr Okada as they happen.