A subsidiary of Japanese gaming conglomerate Universal Entertainment Corp. has asked the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) to punish the prosecutor who leaked the twin rulings on the $10 million perjury and fraud cases of billionaire Kazuo Okada.
Tiger Resorts Leisure & Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI) also appealed to Philippine Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Monday to take over the leakage probe from Parañaque City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac, according to a Manila Standard report.
Paudac had already called for an investigation on the incident last week but TRLEI feared that a self-serving probe would only result in a whitewash. TRLEI described the Paudac-led probe as “improper, self-serving and unjustified.”
“It is the DOJ, not the panel formed by Paudac that should properly investigate the leakage of resolutions that happened at the Paranaque prosecutor’s office,” TRLEI said, according to the news outlet.
Last month, Philippine prosecutors in Makati and Paranaque Cities junked the $10 million perjury and fraud complaints against Okada due to lack of probable cause.
TRLEI accused Paudac of partiality after the prosecutor’s ruling made its way to social media networks Instagram and Facebook before TRLEI received a copy.
The firm claimed in its motion for inhibition that Chloe Kim, who was believed to be connected with Okada, posted the dispositive portions—including the signatures—of Paudac’s resolution junking Okada’s fraud cases as early as May 18.
When the casino developer and operator asked the status of its case in Paudac’s office, TRLEI said that they were informed that no resolution was available for release.
“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.
Okada’s camp insisted that Paudac’s resolution was already available for pick up on May 18 but not a single TRLEI representative came to get their copy on that day.
