Fiscal accused of leaking decisions in Okada raps

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecutor handling the criminal charges against Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada by his former firm, Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), has been asked to inhibit from the $10-million estafa cases.

In an 11-page urgent motion filed last Wednesday, TRLEI sought the inhibition of City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac from the resolution of the estafa charges against Okada for alleged bias and gross partiality.

The company accused Paudac of leaking the resolution of his office dismissing two separate estafa complaints to the camp of Okada ahead of the official release of the ruling.

“Resolutions purportedly disposing the captioned cases in favor of respondent Okada have apparently been leaked… as shown by the unlawful publication thereof in the Facebook and Instagram accounts of his (Okada’s) close companion, Chloe Kim although said resolutions have not been officially released,“ TRLEI alleged in its pleading.

The firm cited as evidence the Facebook post of Kim, who worked as a manager at the casino resort but stopped reporting for work when Okada was kicked out of the company in June 2017.

Kim’s post last May 18 showed photos of the dispositive and signature portions of the purported resolutions dismissing two estafa cases against Okada and other former executives of TRLEI.

The post had a caption saying, “Devils will go the (to) hell soon! 2 (estafa) cases against Kazuo Okada of Okada Manila dismissed. Justice prevails.”

TRLEI said its lawyers were not given access to the resolutions as of May 21.

The Parañaque prosecutor’s office confirmed the dismissal of the estafa charges and said the resolutions were mailed to the parties.

Okada, who is the subject of a lookout bulletin order issued by the Department of Justice, served as chief executive officer of TRLEI, owner and operator of casino resort-hotel Okada Manila, in April and May last year.

TRLEI accused Okada of siphoning $3 million for his consultancy fee and salary during his one month as CEO and of arranging the supply of $7 million in defective light-emitting diode fixtures to the hotel from a company he owns.