MACAU BUSINESS Kazuo Okada photo: Bloomberg News
the Philippines gaming regulator, Pagcor, breaching United States anti-corruption laws. It is alleged he offered gifts, free accommodation and dinners at Wynn’s properties in Macau and Las Vegas, Nevada. Wynn Resorts said it took back Mr Okada’s shares to protect the company’s gaming licenses.
Toxic gifts
A year-long inquiry by Wynn’s compliance committee, which is chaired by former Nevada governor Robert Miller and included former Federal Bureau of Intelligence director Louis Freeh among the investigators, found “Mr Okada and his associates and companies appear to have engaged in a longstanding practice of making payments and gifts to his two chief gaming regulators at the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), who directly oversee and regulated Mr Okada’s provisional licensing agreement to operate in that country”. The Freeh report says Mr Okada and his associates
have “consciously taken active measures to conceal both the nature and amount of these payments”. Mr Okada was awarded a license in 2008 to
operate a casino in what is now known as Entertainment City Manila, for which construction started in January. The Wynn Resorts board opposed Mr Okada’s decision to invest in gaming in the Philippines, which led to a split between both sides. Returning fire, the Japanese businessman said the
forcible buyout was an “outrageous” action by the board and that he would take legal action. Although no longer on the board of directors at
Wynn Macau, Mr Okada is on the Wynn Resorts board until he steps down or is voted out by shareholders at the company’s annual meeting, due to be held in May. The company has asked that he resign.
28 APRIL 2012
Meanwhile, and largely based on the findings of
the Freeh report, Wynn Resorts has filed a lawsuit against Mr Okada in Las Vegas accusing him of breaching fiduciary duty and related offences.
Next moves The Freeh report lists former Pagcor chairman
Efraim Genuino and current chairman Cristino Naguiat having stayed at Wynn properties in Macau and Las Vegas. Disclosing that information may be a privacy breach, since Wynn Resorts made the report public in a filling. The Macau law on personal data protection came
into effect in 2006. It states that information can only be collected for specific and legitimate purposes and says that any information gathered can only be used within Macau. It can only be transferred to outside of the territory in special cases. The Office for Personal Data Protection says that it
is reviewing the Freeh report. “[The office] is aware of this matter and has deep concerns over this case,” a spokesperson told Macau Business. “The case is complicated and the Office for
Personal Data Protection needs to study the available documents carefully before determining whether there is any evidence suggesting a possible breach of the Personal Data Protection Act in Macau.” Macau’s gaming regulator too requested Wynn Macau for more information on the decision made by Wynn Resorts Ltd. to forcibly buy out Mr Okada. The head of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, Manuel Joaquim das Neves said the regulator had been informed about the decision first hand but that more details were requested. The quarrel between Wynn Resorts and Mr Okada should not have a direct impact on Wynn’s operations
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