The long-awaited casino license revocation hearing of embattled Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International has been scheduled to take place on 31 January 2024, the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) has announced.
According to a report by local media outlet Marianas Variety, CCC chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero has explained that the regulator will soon issue an order and notice informing the public of the exact time and venue of the revocation hearing, which comes almost three years since IPI’s casino license was suspended for failure to pay its annual license fees.
IPI has indicated it will seek another stay of the revocation hearing.
The CCC recently revealed it was giving IPI 30 days, expiring on 30 December 2023, to pay the full US$62 million it owes to the Commonwealth Casino Commission in unpaid license fees or face revocation of its license.
IPI’s casino was shuttered in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its license suspended in April 2021 for failure to pay its fees. The CCC has long since threatened to revoke the company’s license but has faced legal challenges from IPI, which argued that the initial reason its casino closed was due to a force majeure event.
However, the Supreme Court in January noted that such force majeure event has ended and that any lingering effects on IPI’s economic state do not constitute such an event either.
IPI currently has two civil suits filed against the CCC claiming the regulator itself has breached the casino license agreement and is taking a “judicial role” in its interpretation of the agreement.
RelatedPosts
