Japanese slot machine manufacturer Universal Entertainment Corp. revealed on Thursday that it has been investigating an allegedly improper transfer of HK$135 million by the company’s founder and Chairman Kazuo Okada to another business of his.
Universal said in a filing to the JASDAQ Securities Exchange that a Special Investigation Committee has been appointed to delve further into the matter. The committee is comprised of corporate auditors, Internal Audit Office members as well as independent external experts.
The investigation was triggered by a recent report by a corporate auditor, according to which fraudulent money acts might have been carried out by Mr. Okada and Yoshinao Negishi, Director at Universal.
It is believed that Mr. Okada and Mr. Negishi transferred the amount of HK$135 million on March 20, 2015 from Universal subsidiary Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. to a third party. According to the above-mentioned report, the loan was extended bypassing what Universal described as “proper internal decision-making processes.” It has also been found out that HK$130 million of the original transfer were later on transferred from the third party to Okada Holdings Ltd., a company at which Mr. Okada was Director at the time. The recent report, presented to Universal’s Board of Directors, concluded that the cash outflow was allegedly intended to bring personal benefit to Mr. Okada.
Both the Japanese Tycoon and his supposed accomplice, Mr. Negishi, had their roles at Universal suspended and are currently the main objects of the investigation. The probe is expected to be completed by the end of the month and its results are to be announced on or around June 30.
With net worth of around $2 billion (Forbes: 2017), Mr. Okada is among Japan’s wealthiest people. The businessman found Universal’s predecessor back in 1969 and participated actively in the company’s establishment as a leading manufacturer of slot machines, arcades, and pachinko machines, a slots-like devices that are currently the most popular gambling option in Japan.
Over the past several years, Mr. Okada has focused his attention on the development of Okada Manila, a $2.4-billion casino resort located in the heart of the Philippine capital. The luxury property had its official opening ceremony in March, thus joining Manila’s casino landscape. Okada Manila was the third integrated resort to open doors as part of the Entertainment City masterplan.
This has not been the first time when Mr. Okada’s responsibilities at a company’s board have been suspended. In 2012, the Japanese tycoon was ousted from the board of Las Vegas-based casino giant Wynn Resorts for allegedly bribing Philippine gambling officials and thus breaching US laws.
