The Kazuo Okada-led board of Okada Manila operator Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc (TRLEI) says it has filed charges of Qualified Theft against the ousted board for allegedly approving a services agreement with a cleaning and pest control company without undergoing a stringent vendor accreditation process.
According to information sent to IAG by the Kazuo Okada-led board, the agreement was signed off by ousted TRLEI executives Hajime Tokuda, Michiake Satate, Kenji Sugiyama, Toji Takeuchi, Celso G. Del Rosario, James Gordon Lorenzana and Jorge A. Miano, with the current board alleging Tokuda and Satate “personally intervened and ensured the contract’s approval.”
This, the Kazuo Okada-led board claims, follows an internal audit conducted “into all the reported anomalous transactions entered into by the ousted board led by Tokuda and Satate,” as part of the tit-for-tat war between the two groups.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, a group led by Kazuo Okada forcibly took control of Okada Manila in late May after the Supreme Court issued a Status Quo Ante Order (SQAO) demanding the board of TRLEI be restored to its composition in 2017, before the dispute between Universal and Mr Okada that led to him being frozen out.
The ousted board has since taken the matter to the High Court to have the SQAO overturned. It has also accused the Kazuo Okada-backed board of siphoning Php122 million (US$2.2 million) directly from the casino cage since taking over day-to-day control.
In the latest development, the Kazuo Okada-backed board said it had discovered anomalies in the service agreement with a company called “Master Fogger” which it says lacks the details to enforce delivery, accountability and monitor compliance with performance standards. It also claims the Php140 million (US$2.5 million) agreement was “grossly disproportionate” to the services to be rendered and that the full payment was advanced less than a month after contract approval “despite the absence of an accomplishment report which is a prerequisite before payment.”
None of these services were actually rendered following execution of the contract on 11 February, the group claims.
It added that the new board would “leave no stone unturned and let Tokuda and his group be held accountable.”
