THE Commonwealth Casino Commission is closely monitoring Imperial Pacific International’s assets that may be auctioned, commission executive director Andrew Yeom said on Wednesday.
In his report to the casino commissioners during their regular monthly meeting, he said their Information Technology and Enforcement & Investigation teams “have been monitoring daily all of the movements involving IPI’s gaming assets for auction” in relation to the lawsuit filed in federal court by the casino investor’s former contractor, USA Fanter Corp. Ltd.
USA Fanter Corp. Ltd. sued IPI for its failure to pay the full contract amount due for labor and materials the contractor provided for the improvement of IPI’s real property in Garapan.
The lawsuit stated that IPI had paid USA Fanter $300,000 only, but the unpaid balance due was not less than $2,089,345.28.
Yeom told the commissioners on Wednesday that “our team and myself included, have been constantly communicating with the [court-appointed receiver] Clear Management team…to collectively manage the movement of these [IPI] assets as carefully as possible leading up to the auction.”
Yeom said they intend to track all of the items that will be sold through the auction by acquiring copies of the bills of sale. “By doing so, we can mitigate some of the unlicensed business applications in this jurisdiction as much as possible,” Yeom added.
He also informed the commissioners about a “last-minute developing story.”
He said IPI has asked the federal court to vacate the receivership. “Apparently, they have come up with the $2 million they owe USA Fanter to set aside/cancel this receivership/writ of execution,” Yeom added.
Commission expenses
Yeom also reported that for the month of October 2021, the commission’s total expense was $84,522. Of this amount, 56.35% was spent on personnel wages and benefits while 25.63% was spent on board and other compensation.
He said the commission’s personnel is now down to 11 (not 10 as earlier reported), “and will probably remain so into the foreseeable future.”
“We’ll also be renewing the employment contracts for next year for these individuals,” he added.
The commission, which used to have over 50 personnel, depends solely on the $3 million regulatory fee that exclusive casino license holder IPI can no longer afford to pay.
IPI, which is facing several lawsuits from vendors or former employees, shut down in March 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yeom has filed four complaints against IPI and sought the revocation of the casino investor’s exclusive license.
