THE Commonwealth Casino Commission has started drawing down a portion of the $350,000 that the Torres administration allotted for the cost of the court-ordered arbitration between CCC and Imperial Pacific International. The CNMI government will pay half of the total arbitration cost while the other half will be paid by IPI.
CCC Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the “expenditures have already begun.”
An arbitration hearing is set for May 23 to 25, 2023, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The arbitrator is Thomas J. Brewer a member of the International Center for Dispute Resolution’s international roster of arbitrators and the American Arbitration Association’s roster of arbitrators for large, complex cases.
Asked how much has been drawn down so far from the special account, Deleon Guerrero said roughly about $50,000.
The commission appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit the District Court for the NMI’s decision to grant IPI’s request for arbitration in the dispute regarding the casino license agreement and IPI’s force majeure defense.
Deleon Guerrero said the commission is now working with the CNMI Office of the Attorney General to process off-island arbitration hearing expenditures which include travel expenses and an office space for the arbitration hearing.
Travel authorizations have also been processed for the OAG’s civil division chief and the commission’s legal counsel who will represent the CNMI government in the arbitration.
Deleon Guerrero said it appears that the arbitrator “does not have an office so we are renting an office at the Outrigger Hotel in Honolulu.”
He also wants to make sure that when the CNMI government issues payments, “at least it is understood that we just pay half — not 100%.”
“We are helping the OAG to make sure that these expenses are properly made,” Deleon Guerrero added.
As of Sept. 2022, IPI, whose casino shut down in March 2020 due to the global pandemic restrictions, owed over $9 million in unpaid regulatory fees and $46 million in unpaid annual exclusive casino license fees, the commission said.
The regulatory fee is due to the casino commission while the casino license fee goes to the CNMI government’s general fund.
