Kazuo Okada: Jun Fujimoto “sought to defame me”
The saga of Kazuo Okada, Universal Entertainment and the Okada Manila continues.
Okada has now released a statement accusing his former business partner and the current CEO of Universal Entertainment, Jun Fujimoto, of plotting a pre-determined coup to take control of Universal and oust him, ever since the Okada Manila opened in 2016.
Okada said: “The coup plotters were led by Jun Fujimoto, a director whom I hired and made a Director at Universal Entertainment.”
The Japanese casino mogul alleges that Fujimoto established an investigative committee designed to defame him and remove him from the company.
“Fujimoto established an investigative committee with a lawyer whom he had acquired as a member, and had the committee conspire by threatening, coercing or bribing the then General Manager of the Universal Entertainment Administration Division and other executives to prepare an investigative report that determined I had obtained illicit profits from the company,” Okada added.
Okada claims that the beginnings of this “coup” were designed to “deplete and exhaust my funds by having me spend on huge legal fees to fight nearly 10 civil lawsuits in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, the US and the Philippines.”
Okada continued: “They sought to defame me and prevent me from being reinstated by filing criminal charges against me in various jurisdictions, thereby ruining my reputation as a businessman and making me appear as an untrustworthy criminal.
“Fujimoto’s criminal charges against me were dismissed one after another, as I had been exonerated by the courts.
“Fearing that I would visit the Philippines and interact intimately with Filipinos, [Fujimoto] filed criminal charges against me in 2018 on the falsehood that I had illegally benefited from Okada Manila and which prevented me from entering the Philippines.”
Okada also alleges that “part of Fujimoto’s takeover plans was the manipulation and confinement of my son – Tomohiro.”
He concluded: “It is a well-known fact that it was I – Kazuo Okada, who created Universal Entertainment and built Okada Manila from scratch – not Jun Fujimoto.
“I am more and more determined to recover Okada Manila and Universal Entertainment from the hands of criminals as soon as possible and contribute further to the development of Philippine tourism.”
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