The Department of Justice is taking over jurisdiction of the $10-million estafa cases filed by the owner of casino resort and hotel Okada Manila against Japanese gaming mogul Kazuo Okada.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra revealed on Tuesday that he has also tasked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the leak of the resolutions of Parañaque City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac on the cases to the social media accounts of Okada’s Korean girlfriend, Chloe Kim, even before it was officially released to the parties.
“We have requested the NBI to investigate the leak. I understand that Prosecutor Paudac has inhibited himself. So DoJ will handle any further motions or incidents in the Okada cases,” Guevarra said in a text message to reporters.
On June 1, Tiger Resorts Leisure & Entertainment Inc. asked the DoJ to investigate Paudac for violating the rules and procedures and the Code of Conduct for Prosecutors in handling cases before his office.
TRLEI accused Paudac of bias and partiality for leaking copies of his resolutions dismissing the estafa cases against Okada, the dispositive portions of which landed in the social media accounts of Kim.
TRLEI is the owner and operator of the posh Okada Manila at the sprawling Entertainment City in Parañaque, where Okada was its chief executive officer before he was expelled last year for embezzling more than $10 million in company funds.
In a complaint, TRLEI asked Guevarra to stop Paudac from investigating the leak, which he himself ordered fearing a whitewash of the probe, and for the justice chief to assume jurisdiction over the case.
Paudac subsequently inhibited himself but did not deny that the resolutions had indeed been leaked, and proceeded to officially release them, stressing that the resolutions are maintained.
Instead of completely turning over the records of the case to the DOJ and distancing from the case, Paudac formed a panel to look into the leakage and even requested the NBI to make a forensic examination of Kim’s social media accounts to determine if the posts “are fake or not, and how and from whom said account holder was able to obtain said photographs.”
“The formation of an investigating panel when he himself would be investigated is improper, self-serving and unjustified, and would only preempt the investigation that should be conducted by the DOJ,” TRLEI pointed out.
TRLEI asked the Justice Secretary to nullify Paudac’s investigation order and restrain the panel to conduct the probe of the leakage.
“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 stressed.
TRLEI has sued Okada before the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office over unauthorized disbursements of more than $10 million of the company’s funds between early 2016 and June 2017.
Okada is also facing a string of cases in South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan.