Okada Arrested in Hong Kong

The arrest of Kazuo Okada (l.) was carried out by the Chinese territory’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, apparently based on a complaint filed by Universal Entertainment, which ousted the Japanese billionaire as chairman last year, alleging he misappropriated company funds. Okada calls it a smear campaign. He says he voluntarily complied with an ICAC request for an interview.

Okada Arrested in Hong Kong

Universal Entertainment reported in a securities filing last Monday that Kazuo Okada, the company’s founder and former chairman, was arrested in Hong Kong by the Chinese territory’s Independent Commission Against Corruption.

News sources reported that Okada posted bond and was released after turning in his passport, a requirement since he is not a Chinese national.

The ICAC declined to comment, except to imply that it had received a “corruption complaint” and “should there be sufficient information to pursue, the ICAC will follow up on it in accordance with the law and established procedures.”

The complaint appears to have originated with Universal, although it was not known on what jurisdictional basis the commission acted, given that Universal, a global developer of machine games and system, is based in Tokyo and Okada is a Japanese citizen. He was a director of Okada Holdings, an investment group that controls Universal and is based in Hong Kong. But he was ousted from that position last summer, along with his involvement in Universal, which has accused the billionaire of misappropriating corporate funds in several instances of fraudulent self-dealing, which he denies.

The two are battling in various courtrooms, one of which is the High Court of Hong Kong, where a Universal subsidiary is seeking HK$136 million (US$17.4 million) from Okada for alleged damages.

In the August 6 filing Universal said it understood Okada had been “arrested in relation to various corruption-related offences.”

“Mr. Okada has no further connection with us whatsoever,” it stated. “We will render our full support and assistance to the ICAC and other law enforcement authorities should the situation require.”

Okada, in a statement released through Las Vegas-based Aruze Gaming, a company he still controls, blasted the filing as part of a smear campaign to “discredit” and “destroy” him and “break up his family.”

The release characterized the incident in a somewhat different light, saying, “Mr. Okada voluntarily presented himself to the ICAC to answer their questions regarding the allegations raised against him,” which the statement describes as “false and malicious.”

“We reiterate that no criminal charges have been filed. The investigation process will provide the opportunity for the truth to come out,” it said.

In March it was reported in the Philippines that the Department of Justice had issued what is known as an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order against Okada in connection with a criminal complaint brought against him by Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, the Universal subsidiary that operates the partially opened Okada Manila resort casino in the capital.

The project found itself in 2012 at the center of a bribery scandal in the Philippines that resulted in Okada’s ouster from the boards of Wynn Resorts and Wynn Macau (he was vice chairman of Wynn Resorts) and the cancellation of his sizable Wynn Resorts shareholding.

He was removed as chairman of Tiger last June.