IMPERIAL Pacific International has not paid its security guards since early June, Variety learned.
Friday will mark the fourth payless payroll for the security guards.
IPI is supposed to have 17 security guards to man the casino, the 15-room luxury villas, the unfinished hotel tower and the warehouses in different locations on Saipan.
However, Variety was told that some of these security guards are no longer reporting to work due to the delays in payroll.
Variety also learned that representatives from IH Group, a South Korean company that signed a memorandum of agreement with IPI, want to attend the Commonwealth Casino Commission meeting at 10 a.m. today, Thursday, July 28, to present a plan for IPI’s casino and hotel in Garapan.
But Casino Commissioner Ramon M. Dela Cruz said he would oppose IH Group’s presence in the meeting. He said as long as the casino commission is under the temporary restraining order from the federal court, it cannot tackle issues pertaining to IPI.
All they can discuss, he said, are administrative matters within the commission, which is mandated by law to meet regularly.
IH Group, which promised to invest $150 million in IPI, said it will pay some of the beleaguered casino operator’s obligations including personnel payroll and payments to vendors.
All the construction workers have already received their salaries, except for the $4,000 paid time off claimed by their team leader, Jesse Aquiningoc, who said he will sue IPI.
