Ponce: CEZA “has no authority to begin with”
The Philippines’ Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, which runs the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport, says it did not license Jack Lam’s purported illegal online casino operations at casinos in the area.
According to the Philippines Business Mirror, CEZA Administrator and CEO Jose Mari Ponce said the agency “has no authority over operations in Clark to begin with.”
Last December Philippine police and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. closed down two casinos owned by Lam: the Fontana Leisure Park in Pampanga and the Fort Ilocandia Resort Hotel in Laoag City. PAGCOR said the establishments were under investigation for “illegal or unlicensed online gaming operations.”
In short order Lam fled the country, the casinos were closed and more than 1,300 Chinese nationals working at the casinos were arrested.
“CEZA has not issued an interactive gaming license nor has accredited a company named Next Games Outsourcing Inc.,” Ponce said.
Lam has been accused of bribery and economic sabotage for allegedly attempting to offer money to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and commissioners of the Bureau of Immigration in connection with the arrests of the illegal workers, some 500 of whom are reported to have escaped.
Some of the workers are alleged to have held CEZA working visas, but “No CEZA working visa has been issued to any foreign national working in any company at Clark Freeport,” Ponce said.
