IPI to file TRO again

Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC is in the process of filing another motion for a temporary restraining order to stop the Commonwealth Casino Commission board members from deliberating and deciding by next week whether or not to revoke IPI’s exclusive casino license.

In response to Saipan Tribune’s inquiry, IPI director/manager Howyo Chi disclosed yesterday that their lawyer, Michael Chen, is working on the TRO motion, which will be filed today, Wednesday, before the U.S. District Court for the NMI.

“Due process violations are going to be our strongest grounds for TRO,” Chi said. He did not elaborate.

CCC board chair Edward C. DeLeon Guerrero has set the board’s regular monthly meeting tomorrow, Thursday, at 10:30am, in the CCC conference room at the Springs Plaza building in Gualo Rai. The meeting’s agenda includes the board’s deliberation and decision scheduled for Tuesday next week pertaining to IPI’s casino license revocation hearing.

CCC board vice chair Rafael S. Demapan and commissioners Ramon M. Dela Cruz, Mariano Taitano, and Martin T. Mendiola are serving as judges in the revocation hearing. DeLeon Guerrero recused himself from the hearing.

IPI and CCC executive director Andrew Yeom, through their lawyers, completed their closing arguments last March 1 after a three-day hearing.

After the closing arguments, Demapan said they are going to hold a public meeting within 30 days, in which the commissioners are also going to deliberate and members of the public will be allowed to speak.

In Yeom’s closing arguments, assistant attorney general Keisha Blaise, who was the counsel for the CCC at the time, stated, among other things, that, as the commissioners deliberated on the revocation of IPI casino license fee for its failure to pay the $3- million casino regulatory fee, it is imperative that they maintain their focus on the central issue at hand—compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations.

In IPI’s closing arguments, Chen asserted, among other things, that the $3-million regulatory fee that the CCC is asking for has several constitutional issues.