Tiger Resort chairman removed following revelations of illegal activity

Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada has today been removed from his post as chairman of the Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc, following allegations of suspected “illegal activities”.

It follows an ongoing investigation by Tiger’s parent company, Universal Entertainment Corp in which the company accused Okada and a fellow director of a “serious violation of governance” pertaining to a transfer of a HKD135m loan from a Hong Kong based subsidiary of the group, Tiger Resort Asia Limited in March 2015.

Universal suspended Mr Okada’s leadership powers on June 8th and have now removed him from office following further evidence of two further illegal activities being uncovered earlier this week.

The first of these pertains to Okada’s alleged misuse of a Universal Entertainment subsidiary named Universal Entertainment Korea Co Ltd to create a property interest in a US$80-million land financing in a deal involving Okada’s wholly owned company Okada Holdings Ltd and an as yet unnamed financial institution.

The second alleged illegal activity occurred in May 2015 when Okada withdrew US$16 million from a Tiger Resort Asia bank account using on a bearer cheque, which he is alleged to have issued by himself.

In both instances Universal claims that Okada did so without complying with its internal procedures for such matters. Universal have said that they are “determined to investigate… these new suspicions in order to clarify the whole picture and to formulate measures to prevent reoccurrence”.

A press statement from Tiger Resorts said: “As a consequence of the recent actions at Universal Entertainment Corporation (U.E.C), a special stockholders meeting of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI) was convened followed by an organizational meeting of the board.

Mr. Kazuo Okada was removed as Chairman of the Board. Justice Manuel Lazaro has been elected Chairman and Mr. Kenji Sugiyama as President. Mr. Antonio Cojuangco, Mr. Rey David and Mr. Steve Wolstenholme remain as Directors.”

Universal Entertainments special investigation committee, comprising a combination of three external experts and in-house auditors had been expected to announce their findings on June 30th, however this may be delayed following this week’s new revelations.