Gaming firm sued for false claim, accusation
A manufacturing company has sued the operator of integrated gaming resort Okada Manila for allegedly falsely accusing it of estafa in connection with a $4.5-million supply contact.
The case for three counts of perjury brought by Aruze Philippines Manufacturing Inc. against gaming firm Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. in the Paranaque City prosecutor’s office stemmed from the complaint filed by Tiger against its former head, Japanese gambling tycoon Kazuo Okada.
Named respondent in the complaint was Dindo Espeleta, Tiger Resort’s chief executive advisor, who had accused Aruze of fraudulently claiming that it would manufacture the LED lighting fixtures to be installed on the facade of Okada Manila’s main casino building.
E-mail evidence
In a 16-page complaint, Aruze president Tetsuya Yokota said Espeleta knew that Aruze would supply the LED strip lights manufactured by another firm, J&J Philippines Corp., as shown by the e-mail exchanges among the three companies between May and June 2016.
Yokota said Espeleta even replied to an e-mail message sent to him by Nasuto Niwa of J&J regarding the technical specifications of the supply contract, which was signed by the representatives of Aruze and Tiger Resort on Oct. 3, 2016.
Article continues after this advertisementHe said Epeleta “willfully and deliberately made an assertion of falsehood” when he claimed that Aruze “falsely represented” that it would produce the lighting fixtures to be used for the project in time for Okada Manila’s grand opening on March 31, 2017.
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“Espeleta, therefore, cannot deny his knowledge of the said communications since he was the contact person of J&J in (Tiger Resort) as regards the transactions on the LED lights,” read a portion of Yokoto’s June 28 complaint-affidavit.
He said the Tiger Resort executive also lied when he said that Aruze was not allowed by law to manufacture LED lights, pointing out that a letter of authority issued by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority in August 2016 showed that such activity was well within its nature of business.
“The truth of the matter is that from the beginning, (Tiger Resort) was aware that some components of the LED products would be sourced from corporations other than (Aruze),” Yokota said.
