Kazuo Okada, erstwhile head honcho of Okada Manila, was arrested in Hong Kong last week by operatives of the administrative region’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), according to Chinese media.
Okada was taken along with a certain Li Jian for alleged conspiracy to defraud the Hongkong-registered family company Okada Holdings of 135 million yuan ($19.7M). Li Jian, reportedly a director of New Games Corp., allegedly received one million yuan from Okada, according to the same report.
ICAC investigates corruption cases in Hong Kong committed by public officials. Crimes by private individuals where corruption of a public official is involved also falls within the jurisdiction of ICAC.
The arrest was played up by Chinese tabloid Headline Daily in its August 1 issue which also rran Okada’s photo inside a vehicle with two female ICAC elements. Online publications in Hong Kong also carried the same story.
Okada, former chief executive officer of Okada Manila, owner Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc., is facing separate cases of estafa in the Philippines for allegedly embezzling more than $10 million in company funds. The complaints, filed by majority shareholders of TRLEI, are pending with the Philippine justice department.
TRLEI has been asking the DOJ to set aside earlier resolutions issued by Paranaque City Prosecutor’s Office that had been leaked and its pertinent portions found their way to the social media accounts of Okada’s Korean girlfriend, Chloe Kim, on May 18.
TRLEI said the leakage, along with the wrongful disposition and resolution of the cases, indicated the prosecutor’s undue interest in the cases and which did not only violate due process but constituted grave administrative offenses.
It said the leakage “not only violated pertinent laws on public officers but also seriously damaged the credibility, independence, and integrity of the assailed resolutions as well as of the Office of the City Prosecutor.”
“The leaked assailed resolution(s) itself is the smoking gun that something irregular happened in the Office of the City Prosecutor of Paranaque City,” it lamented.
The controversy prompted Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to order the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the circumstances surrounding the leakage of the two resolutions issued by City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac.
Guevarra had said that “premature disclosure of orders and resolutions prior to official release is not allowed unless there are compelling reasons that would sufficiently justify the same.” The DOJ has since assumed jurisdiction of the investigation of the two estafa cases.
In one estafa case, TRLEI accused Okada of illegal disbursement of company funds amounting to $3.1 million supposedly for his consultancy fees and salaries during his one-month tenure as CEO through his accomplice Takahiro Usui, then TRLEI president. Said disbursement was not authorized by the TRLEI board.
The other estafa case involves the supply of $7-million light emitting diode (LED) fixtures to Okada Manila by Okada’s personal company, Aruze Philippines Manufacturing Inc (APMI), in conspiracy with his close associate, Kengo Takeda, who was the former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of TRLEI.