The Saipan Chamber of Commerce (SCC) has asked the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) to hold gaming operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) to account for violating labor laws and failing to maintain current payroll and taxes, among other issues.
“No investor that touts a $7 billion casino investment should have any difficulty completing their first phase of development and paying their past due payroll, taxes and fees timely—even in a pandemic,” wrote SCC President Velma M. Palacios in a letter to CCC Board Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero.
Concurrently, the U.S District Court for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has found both IPI and CEO Donald Browne in contempt for failure to comply with court orders.
Palacios asked that IPI be compelled by lawmakers to pay its employees, creditors and vendors, and finally complete Phase I of its lavish casino resort in Garapan, Saipan. “This investment was a promise to our community, and it ensures our collective success,” she said. “As businesses operating in the CNMI, we should all be held accountable for our rippling impacts on our community.”
According to the Guam Post, in October the CCC board authorized Deleon Guerrero and Deputy Commissioner Rafael Demapan to set a hearing date about five complaints filed by the CCC against IPI. It pointed to IPI’s recent decision to deposit escrow fees into attorney accounts to keep its assets from being sold in federal court instead of paying its employees.
Earlier this year, CCC acting Executive Director Andrew Yeom filed a complaint against IPI over its failure to pay the $3.1 million annual regulatory fee that came due on October 1, as well as a $15.5 million annual casino license fee due in August. In June, IPI was charged with failing to contribute $40 million in Community Benefit Fund money in 2018 and 2019 as required by its Casino License Agreement.
CEO Browne, meanwhile, has asked the federal court to appoint a lawyer to represent him, claiming that he’s incapable of paying his own attorney’s fees. “I took a 30 percent pay cut when I became CEO” in July, Browne said. “The company is not able to pay its employees or to sustain operations. All employees, including myself, have not been paid since September 25, 2020.” His six-month term is set to end in January.
Though threatened at one point with jail time, Browne defended IPI, saying it has invested around $1 billion in the CNMI and paid more than $300 million in taxes and fees to the government, more than all of the SCC members combined, reported Asia Gaming Brief.
“It’s easy to pick on businesses when they’re struggling,” Browne said. “Rational thinkers know well that the CNMI has been insulated from the effects of the pandemic due to the federal government bailout. Once the Keynesian stimulus runs out at the end of this month, the CNMI will need businesses determined to weather the storm.”
He added, “We are not giving up without doing everything we can to ensure our existence and the existence of all businesses in the CNMI.”
