Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom, left, standing, smiles as Commissioner Mario Taitano, Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, Vice Chairman Ralph S. Demapan and Commissioner Ramon M. Dela Cruz confer during a meeting on Thursday.
THE Commonwealth Casino Commission announced on Thursday that Imperial Pacific International’s exclusive casino license revocation hearing will take place on Jan. 31, 2024.
But IPI Director How Yo Chi told the commission that they will file a motion to stay the revocation hearing. Chi told Variety that the motion “is in the works.”
The commission earlier set a Dec. 30, 2023 deadline for IPI to pay the CNMI government over $62 million in annual exclusive casino license fee and $17.6 million in annual regulatory fee for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
IPI has failed to pay its $15.5 million annual casino license fee and $3.15 million in annual regulatory fee since its casino shut down in March 2020 due to, among other things, travel restrictions and the economic downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The commission chairman, Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, said they will soon issue an order and a notice informing the public of the exact time and venue of the revocation hearing.
It was Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom, through their legal counsel, Assistant Attorney General Keisha Blaise, who requested for an order to set a revocation hearing for the complaints pertaining to IPI’s unmet obligations to the CNMI government.
Blaise told the commission that she had not received any objection from IPI regarding Yeom’s motion to schedule a revocation hearing.
Deleon Guerrero noted that the commission’s enforcement actions 2020-002 and 2020-003 regarding IPI’s non-payment of the annual exclusive casino license and regulatory fees have been litigated in CNMI courts.
He said the commission wants “to put into action what has been fully heard, fully confirmed by the Superior Court, and affirmed by the [local] Supreme Court. It’s fully litigated,” he reiterated.
He said casino is one of the most regulated industries in the U.S. “And for this entity [IPI] not to fully understand and appreciate [that] is very troubling.”
Rehired
Also on Thursday, the commission unanimously agreed to reappoint Andrew Yeom as executive director.
Aside from Deleon Guerrero, the other commissioners present were Vice Chairman Ralph S. Demapan, Ramon M. Dela Cruz and Mario Taitano. Commissioner Martin Mendiola was excused.
Deleon Guerrero said Yeom’s reappointment is for two months only. Yeom will be the plaintiff in the revocation hearing while Deleon Guerrero will be an advocate for the plaintiff.
Yeom’s previous employment with the commission ended on Jan. 18, 2023, a day before the commission office shut down due to a lack of funding because of IPI’s non-payment of the regulatory fee.
