Commonwealth Casino Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, left, speaks as Vice Chairman Ralph S. Demapan listens during a meeting on Wednesday in the CCC conference room at Springs Plaza in Gualo Rai.
THE Commonwealth Casino Commission is optimistic about the outcome of the arbitration between the CNMI government and Imperial Pacific International, CCC Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said on Wednesday.
Presided by American Arbitration Association’s Thomas J. Brewer, the arbitration was held at the Outrigger Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 23, 24 and 25. The CNMI government was represented by the Office of Attorney General’s civil division chief, Alison Nelson, and Assistant AG Keisha Blaise while IPI was represented by two U.S.-based attorneys.
Deleon Guerrero said he provided his testimony via video tele-conference on the second day while Tao Xing testified for IPI.
IPI’s request for a non-binding arbitration was granted by the District Court for the NMI to resolve the dispute regarding the casino license agreement and IPI’s force majeure defense. IPI and the CNMI government shared the cost of arbitration.
During the casino commission’s meeting on Wednesday, Deleon Guerrero reiterated that IPI owes the CNMI government over $46 million in exclusive license fee and over $9 million in regulatory fee, for a total of over $56 million. He said IPI has been three years delinquent in paying the $15 million annual license fee and the $3.15 million annual regulatory fee.
Those were the issues presented during the arbitration that concluded Friday last week, he said. The commission did not know the result yet, but he and his fellow commissioners were optimistic about it.
“We are hopeful and confident that the CNMI will prevail in the arbitration but we do not know yet the decision. It has not been issued by the arbitrator and both [CNMI] counsels are still in Hawaii,” he said.
Deleon Guerrero also said that he had asked Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita if the commission could utilize for its operation a portion of the remainder of the $350,000 that then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres allotted for the cost of arbitration. The answer he got was no.
The commission is seven months behind in its rent, and now owes its landlord $70,000 for the office spaces at Springs Plaza in Gualo Rai, Deleon Guerrero said.
The commission is not funded by the CNMI government, and relies mainly on the regulatory fee that IPI is supposed to pay.
About $50,000 was drawn down from the funds for the arbitration hearing last week.
IPI’s human resource business partner, How Yo Chi, has also expressed hope for a favorable result in the arbitration.
Following the implementation of Covid-19 restrictions in March 2020, IPI ceased its hotel-casino operations.
