The Japanese Supreme Court denied an appeal filed by local pachinko and slot machine manufacturer Universal Entertainment Corp. in relation to its defamation case against news agency Reuters. Two lower courts had previously ruled that the case lacked merit.
Japan’s highest court ruled earlier this month that the major company did not have sufficient grounds to appeal.
Universal’s defamation case stemmed from several stories Reuters produced back in 2012 in relation to payments of $40 million made by the gaming machine manufacturer to a Philippine gaming consultant who was investigated over bribery allegations. The money was funneled in relation to a casino project in the Philippines that was managed by a Universal subsidiary.
The gaming company filed a lawsuit against Reuters in Tokyo in late 2012. It demanded apologies and $1.8 million for the defamatory stories. In 2015, the Tokyo District Court found the produced articles accurate. A year later that ruling was upheld in the Tokyo High Court.
Universal is 69%-owned by Okada Holdings, the investment vehicle of Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada. Last month, Mr. Okada was ousted from his role as a Chairman of the gaming machine manufacturer’s board after it became known that he was investigated over improper money transfers for personal benefit.
According to Reuters’ 2012 articles, a Hong Kong-based business of Mr. Okada’s sent the total amount of $40 million to Philippine gaming consultant Rodolfo Soriano back in 2010. A $10-million portion of the money was sent back to Hong Kong for internal accounting reasons. It has not become clear how the rest of the money was invested by Mr. Soriano, who had been a former consultant of PAGCOR, the Philippine gambling regulator.
In 2008, Universal received a provisional license for the construction of a $2-billion casino resort on Manila Bay. Mr. Soriano received the above-mentioned amount of $30 million in several payments made in the first half of 2010. During a company meeting, the payments were described as a “completion bonus” for the consultant’s assistance in clearing the last stumbling blocks before Universal’s Philippines casino project. However, this put Mr. Soriano at the center of a bribery allegations investigation that also threatened Mr. Okada’s business of losing his Philippine license.
The matter was separately investigated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. At the time, Mr. Okada was also locked in another legal dispute, that one with his former business partner Steve Wynn. The Japanese businessman was ousted from the board of Las Vegas-based casino operator Wynn Resorts for improperly paying a total of $110,000 for entertainment costs for casino regulators from the Philippines and South Korea.
