Okada also investigated by FBI
The Philippine prosecutor general’s office has recommended that the country end its investigation of Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada, head of Universal Entertainment Corp., according to a statement from the company.
The statement, issued late last month, said the prosecutor advised the country’s secretary of justice to “terminate the investigation into the groundless suspicion that our group may have offered bribes to officials of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.,” the local gaming regulator.
Okada had been under scrutiny for alleged illegal payments associated with his US$2 billion Manila Bay Resorts casino project. Okada has been investigated not just by the Philippines Department of Justice but by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the state of Nevada for alleged violations of anti-corruption laws.
In a filing with Nasdaq, Universal stated that on December 16, 2014, law enforcers in the Philippines chose “not to institute prosecution against Mr. Kazuo Okada, chairman of the board of the company, against whom a criminal complaint and charge had been filed by someone with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office for bribery to public officials.”
Universal Entertainment added in the filing it would continue to investigate the “outflow of US$30 million caused by a former employee of our group,” reported GGRAsia. In mid-2013, a report from Universal Entertainment said a former director of the firm had edited the minutes of a meeting to make it seem as if executives approved a US$25 million payment in 2009.
Okada has made headlines in recent years because of a long-running feud with his former friend, U.S. casino titan Steve Wynn. Okada, the former chairman of Wynn resorts, once held a 20 percent stake in the company until he was ousted in 2012. The founding partners of Wynn Resorts accused each another of bribing public officials in Macau; Wynn also accused Okada of offering cash and gifts to Philippine gaming regulators in violation of U.S. anti-corruption laws.
Universal Entertainment also says the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office decided last month not to pursue those complaints.
