Japanese gaming powerhouse Universal Entertainment Corporation has filed a suit for damages against its founder and former Chairman Kazuo Okada with the Tokyo District Court.
In an announcement on its website, Universal said it filed the suit on 27 November following a finding by a Special Investigation Committee earlier this year that Okada had allegedly committed three cases of fraudulent acts against the company.
It also plans to file a damage lawsuit against Okada in Hong Kong through its subsidiary, Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRA).
“With the lawsuit, the company has made a claim for compensation against Mr Okada for a part of the damage suffered by the company due to his negligence of duty as a board member of the company in connection with the following three misconducts by Mr Okada,” it said.
“In this regard, the majority of the damage caused to the company group as a result of the fraudulent acts is attributed to Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRA) a wholly owned Hong Kong subsidiary of the company. TRA plans to file a separate suit against Mr Okada in Hong Kong for compensation of such damage.
“Therefore, the scope of the claim of the company against Mr Okada in the lawsuit is limited to the damage directly suffered by the company without any involvement of TRA (the amount equivalent to the investigation cost of the Special Investigation Committee).”
The three alleged acts include a HK$135 million loan from TRA to a third party in 2015, arranged by Okada, to obtain funds for his personal use and without imposing ay interest charges; the unauthorized procurement of a check for HK$16 million from TRA; and changing the business entity purchasing land for an integrated resort in Korea from TRA subsidiary UE Korea to his own wholly-owned company, Okada Holdings Korea Co Ltd for his personal gain. Okada Holdings subsequently borrowed US$80 million for purchase of the land using UE Korea’s money as collateral, then charged UE Korea a US$173,562 management consultancy fee which was equivalent to the interest fee for the loan.
