{"id":324514,"date":"2020-06-09T06:03:10","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=324514"},"modified":"2020-06-09T06:03:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:03:10","slug":"is-ipi-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/is-ipi-broke\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Is IPI broke?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Members of the House Committee on Gaming and the Senate Committee on Cannabis & Gaming question the\u00a0Commonwealth Casino Commission in a joint hearing last Thursday on the financial suitability of casino operator Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC.\u00a0(IVA MAURIN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That was the blunt question of Rep. Joseph Lee Pan Guerrero (R-Saipan) at a joint hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Gaming and the Senate Committee on Cannabis & Gaming last week, during questioning of the Commonwealth Casino Commission. This come soon after the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. cut the casino licensee\u2019s power supply at the hotel casino in Garapan and at other housing properties last month.<\/p>\n

This is on top of the back-to-back cases filed by vendors against the IPI, among other cases, including the unanswered question as to where the community benefit fund the casino owes the CNMI people has gone.<\/p>\n

In his response, CCC chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said, \u201cAs we speak today, the answer to you is, yes, they are, if you\u2019re talking about today. I do not see the revenue there to pay the obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the actual figures in terms of IPI\u2019s finances, CCC executive director Charlie Atalig said they are restricted, under CMC Section 2314, from disclosing that information. \u201cIt is a three-year felony for us to provide confidential information that we\u2019re restricted. I would recommend maybe changing the law to allow us to provide that information,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Access to $500M<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deleon Guerrero said that CCC has been \u201cvery concerned since Day 1\u201d about the financial suitability of IPI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we look at the actual License Agreement, I do not see the actual financial statement that the Lottery Commission [received], when they granted the license to IPI. Any financial statement that proves that they are financially, and at that time, suitable, to launch a $2-billion investment or construct 2,000 new rooms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The picture is different now, Deleon Guerrero said.<\/p>\n

IPI has access to $500 million from Japanese investors, which he said the commission has reviewed, and deemed to be more than enough to see that the facility gets completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf that, I believe $165 million has already been dispersed. So again, putting aside the community benefit fund, it is our opinion, that if that loan facility were to proceed, and I understand there\u2019s some problem right now with the COVID-19 pandemic and the remaining balance, it is our position that the owners are still committed to finishing [Imperial Pacific Resort],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deleon Guerrero also noted that the licensee has \u201calready spent over $700 million,\u201d that construction has not stopped, and suggested for the lawmakers to go and see what it is currently being done at the construction site. \u201cBased on the loan facility that we have been provided, if they keep the intent and purposes of that particular loan, there\u2019s sufficient money there that IPI could actually complete the IPR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial suitability<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from their court cases, the casino licensee is due to pay a $15.5-million license fee on Aug. 12, $3.1 million in regulatory fee fund, and $20 million in community benefit fund due in October.<\/p>\n

Deleon Guerrero said that the CCC has been assured that the IPI board of directors is aware of those costs, and that, aside from the community benefit fund, they\u2019re prepared to make the necessary exclusive license fee and the regulatory fee.<\/p>\n

If Aug. 12 comes, and IPI does not pay the license fee, CCC will be mobilizing an investigation to make sure that payment has been made from Hong Kong, and from then, put measures in place, just as the commission has done last year, following a delay in the full payment of the license fee.<\/p>\n

Last year, IPI paid the license fee 15 days late from the Aug. 12 cutoff, during which CCC imposed a $25,000 per day penalty on IPI, totaling $375,000, which went to the general fund.<\/p>\n

As for the community benefit fund, IPI, according to Deleon Guerrero, is approaching it differently because they have taken the position that it was due 60 days after groundbreaking on Phase 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t realize that Amendment No. 5 injected it earlier. They were under the impression that it was due when they do the Marpi. That is an ongoing discussion with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minority leader Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan), also questioned IPI\u2019s capability to complete the casino hotel in Garapan, and called for the government not to grant it any public land or any other future projects until the casino hotel is done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a great injustice for them to start another project when that one is not done,\u201d Propst said<\/p>\n

CCC executive director Atalig recently filed a complaint with the commission, signed May 28, 2020, to suspend IPI\u2019s license and to seek fines for the casino licensee\u2019s failure to remit its obligations into the community benefit fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was the blunt question of Rep. Joseph Lee Pan Guerrero (R-Saipan) at a joint…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":324516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}