IMPERIAL Pacific International anticipates that its “day of reckoning” will arrive in March, its chief executive officer, Ray N. Yumul, told the Commonwealth Casino Commission on Thursday.
Yumul also said that the casino investor is now ready to “spill the beans” on what has really transpired over the years between IPI and certain officials of the Commonwealth.
In an interview after the meeting, Yumul told Variety, “I will be demanding the CCC to investigate the political influence exerted by some local politicians to coerce IPI to enter sweetheart contracts, land leases and contributions.”
Day of reckoning
“A day in March is the day of reckoning for IPI, as this body will decide on the proposed revocation of its exclusive casino license,” Yumul said at the end of his response to the casino commissioners who asked him to explain the delay in the removal of tower cranes from the unfinished IPI hotel-casino building in Garapan.
During the meeting, he and Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero had a heated exchange of words over the almost year of delay in the removal of the tower cranes which the commissioners said pose a public hazard.
IPI’s casino shut down in March 2020 amid the onset of the Covid-19 global pandemic. In January 2021, the federal court issued a stop order at the casino construction site.
On Thursday, IPI’s in-house construction workers led by Jess Aquiningoc began dismantling tower crane No. 6.
Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom said there will be hearings held in March for his complaints against IPI and recommendations to revoke its exclusive license for its failure to comply with five enforcement actions.
“We are going to set hearing dates for those and we’re thinking by the end of March. We are consolidating the five enforcement actions and will seek the revocation of IPI’s license,” Yeom reiterated.
He said the exact dates of the hearings will be set soon.
Imperial Pacific International Chief Executive Officer Ray Yumul, gestures as he speaks before the Commonwealth Casino Commission during its monthly meeting in Gualo Rai on Thursday. Also in the photo are Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom, left foreground; Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, seen on a monitor; and Executive Assistant to the Commission Ruth Ann P. Sakisat.
