A former employee of Japan’s Universal Entertainment Corp. claims the company’s billionaire Chairman Kazuo Okada ordered the payment of bribes to advance his casino plans in the Philippines.
Takafumi Nakano has filed a criminal complaint with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to Reuters. The complaint contains allegations similar to those at the center of an ongoing civil defamation case Nakano is pursuing against his former employer and urges Japanese authorities to investigate and charge Okada under the country’s law against bribing foreign officials. It also wants Okada and three of his lawyers charged with criminal defamation.
The complaint marks the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle between Okada and three former employees over US$40 million in payments made in 2010 that have been the subject of separate investigations by Philippine authorities, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Nakano says Okada ordered the bulk of the $40 million to be paid to Rodolfo Soriano, a Philippine businessman with close ties to Efraim Genuino, then head of Philippine gaming regulator PAGCOR, and other highly placed members of the former administration of President Gloria Arroyo. The alleged aim was to secure tax and foreign ownership concessions for the $2 billion gaming resort Universal is developing through Philippine subsidiaries at the government’s Entertainment City resort district on Manila Bay. The first phase of the project, known as Manila Bay Resorts, is scheduled to open next year.
Soriano and Genuino have not been charged with any wrongdoing in connection with the investigations, and Universal maintains that it has conducted all its business in the Philippines lawfully. The company and Okada have sued Nakano and the other two ex-staffers, accusing them of transmitting a portion of the money without proper authorization. The three dispute that and claim in court filings that they acted on Okada’s orders.
Findings made public last year from a third-party investigation commissioned by Universal concluded there was no evidence of bribery but said the company’s governance practices were flawed. The panel completed a second report in March which has not been made public.
Universal, meanwhile, is suing Reuters in Tokyo for defamation in relation to its reporting of the payments.
