THE court-mandated arbitration between Imperial Pacific International and the Commonwealth Casino Commission will cost money that CCC doesn’t have, according to its chairman, Edward C. Deleon Guerrero.
He said he has asked Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for funds.
Last week, District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona granted IPI’s request to allow arbitration in its dispute with CCC regarding their casino license agreement and the casino developer’s force majeure defense.
In his report during the commission’s meeting on Thursday, Deleon Guerrero said IPI and CCC, “unfortunately,” must share the cost of arbitration.
He said he and the commission’s executive director, Andrew Yeom, met with the governor and requested financial assistance to cover at least half of the arbitration cost.
Deleon Guerrero did not mention the amount, but added that the commission will discuss it in an executive or closed-door session.
Deleon Guerrero noted that the casino license agreement with IPI clearly says that the force majeure defense does not apply to revocation proceedings involving gaming-related violations.
Nevertheless, he added, the commission will have to comply with the federal court’s order.
Deleon Guerrero said the very disappointing part of it is that the arbitration is non-binding.
A non-binding arbitration appears to be just a waste of time and a waste of money because whoever prevails, the other party can still appeal to the court, he added.
“Nevertheless it is the process that we need to accept and we need to follow — we need to comply with the federal order,” Deleon Guerrero reiterated.
IPI, whose casino shut down in March 2020 due to the global pandemic, now owes over $9 million in unpaid regulatory fee and $46 million in unpaid annual exclusive casino license fee, he said.
The regulatory fee is due to the casino commission while the casino license fee goes to the CNMI government’s general fund.
