The “false board” of Okada Manila, led by Kazuo Okada, reportedly paid themselves with the cage money — intimidating and easing out employees.
Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL) said it learned that Kazuo, Antonio Cojuangco, and Dindo Espeleta have eased out key officers of Okada Manila after they questioned the attempts to use the casino cage to fund the payment of the board’s salaries.
The development came after banks had decided to freeze the corporate accounts of Okada Manila, pending the resolution of the intra-corporate dispute.
“As the majority shareholder in TRLEI (Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Corporation), the operator of Okada Manila, we at TRAL are deeply concerned that the illegal acts of Kazuo Okada and his illegitimate officers will put in danger not only the integrated casino resort itself but also the 5,000-strong employees of Okada Manila,” Kenshi Asano, Director of TRAL, said.
TRAL, which owns 99.9 percent of the shares in Okada Manila operator TRLEI, stood firmly that “it would not financially support the illegitimate board that forcefully took over Okada Manila in May.”
TRAL demanded the Kazuo Okada-led board to allow its representatives and officers to inspect the corporate documents of the integrated casino resort following reports of unauthorized disbursements of corporate funds, primarily from the casino cage.
TRAL sent the demand letter to the seven-man illegitimate board of Okada Manila through its legal counsel DivinaLaw on 3 August.
The Hong Kong-based company was informed that Okada Manila’s board has been disbursing payments to Transasia Construction Development Corp. (TCDC), a contractor of Okada Manila with links to Espeleta.
The payments were made, although TRLEI has an existing claim for overpayment against TCDC in the staggering amount of P9.2 billion.
Thus, TRAL ordered the inspection and the furnishing of lists of payments and/or fund transfers amounting to more than P1 million made to any party; payments made to all contractors since their illegal and violent take over in May 2022, as well as the payments to any company linked to Kazuo, Cojuangco and Espeleta.