TO protect their value and integrity, Clear Management Ltd., the U.S. court-appointed receiver of Imperial Pacific International’s assets, plans to move the gaming machines from IPI’s casino in Garapan to Clear Management’s warehouse.
In his report to the Commonwealth Casino Commission on Thursday, the commission’s executive director, Andrew Yeom, said Clear Management noted the poor condition of the IPI casino in Garapan due to lack of electricity. IPI’s casino has been closed since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The receiver, Yeom said, wants to transfer the gaming equipment to Clear Management’s warehouse where they can be protected in air-conditioned rooms to make sure that the value of the assets remains intact.
“As you all know by now, the stay on the limited receivership was lifted by the district court on Aug. 18, 2022,” Yeom said.
He added that he has been notified by Clear Management that they are “prepping up” for the auction and have asked the commission if there are any concerns that need to be addressed or guidelines that the receiver must comply with.
Yeom said he told Clear Management to “itemize all the crucial elements that need to be documented in all sales transactions of IPI’s assets, especially the gaming machines.”
He added, “It is unfortunate that this receivership is happening before our eyes, but we still have to make sure the movements of these gaming assets are tracked so that they do not end up in the wrong person’s hands, as well as to make sure that we remove all of the CCC tags and/or seals on the electronic gaming machines and keep abreast of the latest inventories of the gaming assets.”
He said the casino commission’s Information Technology Manager Ian Morell and Investigation Director Thelma Mizer are in charge of “liaising” with Clear Management’s ground crew “to discuss all the moves that will occur moving forward.”
Yeom said Clear Management told him that it will take some time for the first auction to take place — several weeks at the very least.
He said the commission will be informed about the date of the auction as Clear Management moves along with its preparation and arrangements.
Aside from the lack of power at the IPI casino, Yeom said there may not be enough security guards manning the casino facility.
Variety was told by IPI employees that the number of security guards is down to seven. They did not receive their salaries on Friday, Variety learned.
Yeom said the receiver’s remedy to secure the assets is to move them to a more secure warehouse which “we are happy to approve, but we just have to monitor it.”
Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero asked Yeom to notify the federal court that the commission has hard drives in IPI’s gaming equipment.
He acknowledged that once the assets are sold, “we lose jurisdiction over them.”
The most they can do, Deleon Guerrero said, is remove the tracking devices that belong to the commission.
He said these include hard drives that are monitored in the commission’s surveillance room in the casino.
These should be deleted or extracted before the equipment is sold, he added.
Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom smiles during a casino commission meeting on Thursday in their conference room at Springs Plaza in Gualo Rai.
