Universal Entertainment has issued a filing to the JASDAQ Securities Exchange, saying that the investigations surrounding Chairman Kazuo Okada in Japan and the Philippines have “concluded” also adding that a separate investigation in the US is expected to be closed due to “lack of evidence.”
“We are pleased to announce that all inspections or investigations by government related bodies – of the group and its officers and employees in relation to the groundless suspicion – have thereby concluded for all practical purposes in the Philippines just as all investigations … in Japan have concluded,” the company said in its filing.
Universal said it was basing its statement on testimony given by Katherine Camposano, an investigator with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), to the Gaming and Amusement Committee of the House of Representatives on December 10. Camposano reportedly said that the Prosecutor General of the Philippines proposed to Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima to “terminate the investigation on the company due to “insufficient evidence” that Universal had bribed PAGCOR officials to curry favors in its pursuit of a casino license in the Philippines.
Universal also said Gaming and Amusement Committee Chairman Elpidio F. Barzaga Jr. asked the NBI to submit their reports related to the issue by January 13, 2015. In response, NBI Director Virgilio L. Mendez sent the chairman two reports compiled by the Fact Finding Panel, one dated June 28, 2013 and one dated September 24, 2014.
The Japanese casino operator also said that similar bribery charges filed in the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office were dropped on December 16, 2014 after a decision was made not to prosecute its chairman.
The closure of the investigations in the Philippines and Japan is also expected to carry over in the US. “Having received the above investigation results by investigative authorities in the Republic of Philippines and Japan which are understood to be the place of the act and the place where the results occurred for the Suspicion, the investigation will be closed due to the lack of evidence again as long as fair and proper investigation is conducted,” Universal said.
With its legal troubles apparently behind it, Universal concluded its filing to JASDAQ by saying that it “intends to continue strictly pursuing the legal liability through the suits for damages pending in the Tokyo District Court etc. against prejudicial and illegal reporting activities of Reuters, The Asahi Shimbun, etc, which unfairly fabricated the groundless suspicion on behalf of Wynn Resorts Limited, which is the party to a dispute with the company, and against involvement of part of the retired employees of the company in such activities.”
