In Manila, the Office of the City Prosecutor of Parañaque City has dismissed a complaint by Tiger Resorts, Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) against Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada and associates, including Dindo Espeleta, Maximo Modesto, Josel C. Flores, Tetsuya Yokota and Hiroshi Kawamura.
The case, brought by TRELI Director Hajime Tokuda, charged the group with falsifying documents. But the court found “no probable cause to indict the respondents for the crimes filed against them.”
The September 8 resolution, made public last week, was published by the Manila News. It stated: “Having ruled that the respondents did not falsify the subject Secretary’s Certificate, the charges for the use of Falsified Documents and/or Other Deceits must also be dismissed without further elaboration and explanation.
“Wherefore, the premises considered, it is most respectfully recommended that instant cases be dismissed for insufficiency of evidence.”
It’s one of many legal actions by both sides in an intra-corporate dispute over control of Philippines integrated resort (IR) Okada Manila.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, on May 31 a group led by Okada seized control of Okada Manila in response to a status quo ante order (SQAO) issued by the Philippine Supreme Court. That order mandated that the board of TRLEI be restored to its 2017 iteration, before the dispute between parent Universal Entertainment Corp. and Okada led to him being forced out of the companies he founded.
The previous board regained control of the IR this month.
In response to his legal win, Okada said, “Our opponents can continue to come up with trumped-up charges like this against us, but we will also continue to uphold our right to defend ourselves, because the truth is on our side.”
