Philippine court orders the country’s police to Detain Japanese Currency mogul Kazuo Okada on three counts of fraud
A court has ordered the arrest of Japanese gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada after the nation ’s Department of Justice recommended last month that the leveling of charges against him on three counts of fraud. The court issued the arrest order on Friday and it was made public on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Back in December, the Philippine DoJ issued a judgment on a legal motion filed by Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, the operator of the Okada Manila casino resort. The judgment read that Mr. Okada misappropriated over $3.1 million from the corporation. The agency also recommended that the filing of charges against the embattled businessman more than three counts of fraud.
Mr. Okada sought alteration of the DoJ judgment, asserting that the Department dismissed crucial signs while preparing its own decision. At a 14-page motion filed last year, the businessman’s team stated he obtained the contested amount of money as salaries for serving as CEO of Tiger Resort and in consultancy fees for the weeks of April and May 2017.
Mr. Okada and his legal group consequently contested DoJ’s statement he acquired the above-mentioned figure “through mistake or fraud.
Tiger Resort is a subsidiary of Universal Entertainment Corp., the Japanese pachinko producer Mr. Okada himself based more than five years ago. In 2017, Mr. Okada was ousted from the board of the casino operator after allegations emerged that he had misappropriated funds without the approval of fellow board members.
Arrest Order
On Friday, Judge Rolando How of the Parañaque City Regional Trial Court Branch 257 ordered the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to present Mr. Okada to court. It was unknown if the Japanese businessman was in the Philippines at the time of issuance of the order.
The local court fixed a bond at PHP348,000 (approx. $6,627) for all 3 fees that the DoJ advocated in its December settlement.
In its movement, Tiger Resort has stated that the organization ’s former Chief Operating Officer Takahiro Usui facilitated the contested payments to Mr. Okada. Mr. Okada asserted that Mr. Usui had been authorized to sign agreements and related documentation in response to DoJ’s argument that the former COO did not have the proper authorization to sign any papers with no board’s acceptance.
According to local media accounts, Judge How issued on Friday an order for the arrest of Mr. Usui, too.
Mr. Okada was detained in Hong Kong in August 2018 over corruption-related charges. The businessman had to surrender his passport after an interview with the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption, understood to be the town ’s anti-graft regulator.
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