Tonyboy Cojuangco backs DOJ on Kazuo Okada indictment

MANILA, Philippines — Businessman Antonio “Tonyboy” O. Cojuangco welcomes the decision of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to indict Japanese gaming mogul Kazuo Okada for alleged embezzlement of more than $3 million in funds of the posh Okada Manila.

Cojuangco, president of All Seasons Hotel and Resort Corp. and director of Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), said the DOJ ruling would hopefully pave the way for the case to move forward.

“The DOJ decision brings us one step closer to disentangling the shareholder disputes in the Okada group, hence allowing the company to run its business with utmost efficiency,” Cojuangco said. “Needless to say, despite the legal embroilments, the current management of the Okada group is focused on achieving its financial targets, contributing to the economic growth of the country, as well as helping improve the lives and conditions of the disadvantaged.”

In a resolution dated Dec. 7, assistant state prosecutor Ajejandro Daguiso found Okada liable to face trial on three counts of estafa arising from a complaint filed by Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc., owner of the hotel resort in Paranaque. 

Daguiso’s resolution reversed a ruling of the Paranaque Prosecutor’s Office dismissing the estafa cases on ground that it constituted intra corporate dispute.

TRLEI accused Okada of illegal disbursement of company funds amounting to $3.145 million allegedly for his consultancy fees and salaries during his tenure as CEO through his alleged accomplice Takahiro Usui, then TRLEI president. Said disbursement was allegedly not authorized by the TRLEI board. 

In his resolution, Daguiso found Okada’s arguments unconvincing. “(Okada’s) defenses are now appropriately matters of evidence to be proven in a full-blown trial,” he said in the resolution. Daguiso also ordered the indictment of Usui for conspiracy in the commission of the offense.