Kazuo Okada is suing his family after being removed from the board of the Okada Holdings investment firm, the Japanese casino tycoon himself confirmed in an interview with global news outlet Reuters.
Based in Hong Kong, Okada Holdings owns a majority stake in Japanese pachinko manufacturer Universal Entertainment Corp. Mr. Okada currently owns a 46.4% stake in the investment vehicle, which makes him its largest shareholder.
It became known last week that a family rift between the business magnate and his son and daughter had cost him his seat in the company’s board. Mr. Okada’s son, Tomohiro, has a 43.5% stake and his sister, Hiromi, owns a 10% stake in the Hong Kong-based firm. His children’s combined stakes made it possible to remove their father from the board.
Mr. Okada told Reuters that he believed only a lawsuit could help him convince his son and daughter into negotiating and possibly settling the dispute.
According to Reuters, Mr. Okada’s children were not the only defendants in the lawsuit. It seems that Universal Entertainment, which is 69% owned by Okada Holdings, has also been sued by the Japanese businessman. Reuters obtained that information from the Hong Kong High Court online database. Mr. Okada himself neither confirmed, nor declined Universal Entertainment’s participation in the case.
The pachinko machine manufacturer announced in early June that it had appointed a Special Investigation Committee to investigate Mr. Okada’s activities as Chairman of the company’s board. A report compiled by an internal auditor found that the billionaire businessman had allegedly transferred the approximate amount of $20 million from Universal subsidiary Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. to an unnamed third party and had later extended the greater portion of the loan to Okada Holdings. It was believed that the transfer had eventually brought personal benefit to Mr. Okada.
The Special Investigation Committee was to probe into the matter and to announce its findings by June 30. However, committee members asked for a deadline extension as new evidence of improper money transfers emerged and needed due consideration. Mr. Okada and his alleged accomplice in the above-described deeds were removed from their respective roles of a Chairman and Director of the Universal Entertainment board.
Shortly after news about the Japanese businessman being the subject of an internal investigation emerged, he was also ousted from his post as a Chairman of Tiger Resort, Leisure, and Entertainment Inc., the company that manages the $2.4-billion Okada Manila casino in the Philippine capital. The resort’s opening represented a long-time ambition of Mr. Okada to enter the Philippine casino market.
