Japanese gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada arrested in Hong Kong — HK media

Japanese billionaire and gaming magnate Kazuo Okada was arrested in Hong Kong last week over supposed conspiracy to defraud Okada Holdings, according to reports on Chinese media.

According to Hong Kong-based publication Headline Daily, Okada was arrested by Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for conspiracy to defraud Okada Holdings of ¥135 million ($19.7 million).

Okada was booted out as the chairman of the board of Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc., the developer and operator of casino and resort complex Okada Manila, in June 2017.

The company has since filed an estafa case against Okada claiming that the tycoon illegally disbursed company funds amounting to $3.1 million, supposedly for consultancy fees and salaries as CEO.

Just last month, the company appealed for a new preliminary investigation into the matter following the "leakage" of unreleased resolutions, which the company claimed was in connection with Parañaque City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac.

"The premature leakage, followed by the apparent ‘rush to release’ the assailed resolutions, coupled with the wrongful dispositions and resolution of these cases, are indicative of Paudac’s feared undue interest in the instant cases and which not only violate due process… but are grave administrative offenses," the company said.

TRLEI has since requested the DOJ to penalize Paudac for supposedly leaking parts of the unreleased resolutions.

In May, the company also called on Paudac to recuse himself from the estafa cases filed against Okada for the supposed bias and gross partiality due to the leakage. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News