Ralph Demapan
THE Commonwealth Casino Commission on Thursday rescheduled for the third time the hearing for the revocation of Imperial Pacific International’s exclusive casino license.
The hearing is now set for Feb. 28, 2024, at 9 a.m. in the commission’s conference room at Springs Plaza in Gualo Rai.
The hearing was originally scheduled for Jan. 31, 2024, after IPI failed to pay its outstanding obligation to the CNMI government on Dec. 30, 2023.
The commission later re-scheduled the hearing for Feb. 12, 2024, granting the request of its executive director, Andrew Yeom, who said that a settlement negotiation was ongoing.
On Feb. 5, 2024, the commission’s vice chairman, Ralph S. Demapan, moved the revocation hearing to today, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, after Yeom told the commission that the parties were still engaged in settlement negotiations and required additional time.
On Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, Demapan issued another order granting a joint motion to reschedule the revocation hearing for Feb. 28, 2024, stating that “the parties are engaged in settlement negotiations and require more time.”
Demapan at the same time noted that as “the motion represents the third of its kind, the Commonwealth Casino Commission is increasingly strained to view such requests in a ‘favorable light’ and is instead increasingly inclined to cast doubt as to whether a continuance is in the public interest.”
Demapan urged both parties to “bear this in mind.”
The commission intends to hear the enforcement actions regarding complaints No. 2021-002 and No. 2021-003, which pertain to IPI’s failure to pay, since 2020, the $15.5 million annual exclusive casino license, which now amounts to over $62 million, and the $3.15 million annual regulatory fee due to the commission, now totaling $17.6 million, for a grand total of $79.63 million.
