THE Commonwealth Casino Commission last week rejected Imperial Pacific International’s responses to four complaints and received a fifth complaint against IPI for its failure to pay the regulatory fee for 2021 due on Oct. 1, 2021.
The complaints seek the revocation of the casino operator’s exclusive license.
In his report to the commission, CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom said IPI’s responses to enforcement actions 2021-001 to 2021-004 were “signed by a non-lawyer and perhaps we need absolutely clear legal guidance on the matter since each and all of the four complaints are seeking revocations.”
“This means,” he added, “that we have to be extra careful in each step we take [to ensure that] those steps are carried on as properly as possible in accordance with the law.”
The enforcement actions are 2021-001: Nonpayment of Annual License Fee (fee for 2020); 2021-002: Non-compliant with required working capital for three months’ payroll; 2021-003: Nonpayment of regulatory fee (for 2020); and 2021-004: Nonpayment of license fee due Aug. 12, 2021.
During a regular meeting on Thursday, Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said that in his opinion, IPI’s responses without a lawyer’s signature could be considered “not submitting a reply.”
The commission, however, voted to give IPI up to Nov. 15, 2021 to provide responses to the enforcement actions that are signed by a lawyer.
Deleon Guerrero also said that failure to pay the required fee for more than 12 hours is a violation of the commission regulations and should be penalized as a major offense for each day unpaid beginning Oct. 1, 2021.
5th complaint
In his fifth complaint, Yeom stated that IPI failed to pay in full the required $3.15 million regulatory fee on or before Oct. 1, 2021. The regulatory fee, he said, was adjusted based on a 5% increase required by law.
Yeom stated that IPI “has knowingly and willfully violated Commonwealth law by failing to pay the casino regulatory fee in whole or in part every day since Oct. 1, 2021.”
“The relative harm suffered by the Commonwealth by IPI’s failure to pay the casino regulatory fee required by law from Oct. 1, 2021, through filing of this complaint as alleged above, is great in that public confidence in general and the gaming public specifically, are greatly harmed when the licensee repeatedly violates laws and regulations, and repeatedly breaches contracts,” the complaint stated.
IPI, which is facing several lawsuits mostly from vendors, shut down its casino in March 2020 with the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Andrew Yeom
