Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, in an interview yesterday, said the newly established business “is unfairly being targeted by some people who, for some reasons, are very curious about the investment.”
Xanadu entered into a partnership with the Palms Resort owner, United Micronesia Development Association, and was issued a business license last January to provide hotel rooms to its members who visit the island.
Ada said new investors from China may “stir curiosity, especially under the circumstance that China is being excluded from the [federal] immigration system’s visa-waiver program.”
But, he added, “this is a legitimate investment group and its existence is all based on regulations.”
The CNMI government, he said, is “not doing anything outside the regulations.”
According to Ada, the new investment has nothing to do with the CNMI’s immigration issue.
“In fact, the members of this club who are supposed to be its own clients are the kind of people from China who can travel to the U.S. anytime they wish to,” he said.
Xanadu complied with CNMI business requirements and invested $2 million in the commonwealth, he added.
Aside from paying “thousands of dollars in processing fees” and the “multiplier effects” of the investment, the business is also employing locals, he said.
“These unfair attacks against them are impacting their ability to move ahead,” he added.
Ada welcomes anyone who has questions about the business, including the Attorney General’s Office, to look at its records.
