Corruption case: Firm offers help to pin down Okada

Japanese gaming firm Universal Entertainment Corp. (UEC) said it would help Hong Kong’s anticorruption agency investigate and prosecute its former chair, gambling financier Kazuo Okada.

“We will render our full support and assistance to the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) and other law enforcement authorities should the situation require,” UEC told the Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. on Aug. 6.

In a disclosure, UEC said Okada was arrested last week by Hong Kong’s ICAC for “various corruption-related offenses.”

Bail

“Mr. Okada is currently released subject to bail conditions imposed on him by ICAC,” the company said.

Okada was board chair of UEC until June 29, 2017.

Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), which owns hotel-casino Okada Manila where Okada used to be chief executive officer, is a subsidiary of UEC.

UEC is Japan’s leading maker of gaming products and video games.

According to reports, Okada was arrested with a certain Li Jian for alleged conspiracy to defraud the Hong Kong-registered family company, Okada Holdings, of $19.7 million.

Reports said Li Jian, reportedly a director of New Games Corp., allegedly received money from Okada.

PH cases

In the Philippines, Okada is also facing complaints by majority shareholders of TRLEI for estafa for allegedly embezzling more than $10 million in company funds.

It has a subsidiary in the Philippines.

The arrest of Okada had been reported by Hong Kong’s Headline Daily and Chinese online publications.

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.