Interim report due this week
The fortunes of Japanese gaming titan Kazuo Okada continue to topple. The billionaire entrepreneur, now under investigation by the company he founded, Universal Entertainment, has been removed from the board of Tiger Resorts, a Universal subsidiary.
In its latest statement, Universal said, “Recently it came to the attention of the special investigation committee that there is a suspicion that Mr. Okada has been involved in another two cases of illegal activities” in addition to the original case. On June 16 Tiger Resort removed Okada as company chairman.
Universal officials first established the committee to examine the outflow of 1 billion yen (US $17.3 million) from Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. to an unnamed third party without going through proper fiduciary channels. The third party was later identified as Okada Holdings Ltd., directed at the time by Okada himself. In a press release, Universal said HKD130 million of the loan sum in question was found to be for the purpose of “personal benefit for Chairman Okada.” Pending the outcome of the investigation, “all rights and authorities” of the Japanese billionaire were suspended by the company.
In the new case, Okada is suspected of writing himself a US$16 million check from a Tiger Resort bank account in May 2015. That withdrawal too was apparently done “without necessary internal procedures of the company,” Universal Entertainment stated.
The company added it is “determined to investigate these new suspicions in order to clarify the whole picture and to formulate measures to prevent reoccurrence.”
Okada has been replaced by Justice Manuel Lazaro and Kenji Sugiyama will take over the role of president. Antonio Cojuangco, Rey David and Steve Wolstenholme remain as directors, said the company in a statement.
