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CA affirms ruling junking estafa charges vs. Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Court of Appeals has affirmed its earlier ruling junking the estafa charges against Japanese billionaire and gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada over an allegedly unauthorized US$3.1 million compensation he received from the company which runs the casino-resort hotel complex Okada Manila.In a ruling dated July 6, the CA Former Sixteenth Division stood by its December 9, 2021 decision which dismissed the estafa charges and quashed the warrants of arrest against Okada and Takahiro Usui.“After due consideration, We resolve to deny the motions for reconsideration filed by the OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) and the private respondent. The bulk of the arguments of the parties are not novel and have already been threshed out and discussed by this Court in Our Decision,” CA Associate Justice Alfredo Ampuan said in his resolution.Ampuan also penned the December CA ruling.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/10/22/ca-clears-japan-casino-mogul-okada-of-fraud-charges">PH Court of Appeals clears Japan casino mogul Okada of fraud charges</a></li></ul><div> WHAT HAPPENED</div>Okada was the chief executive officer while Usui was the president and chief operating officer of Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI), the operator of Okada Manila, before their removal due to corruption allegations.TRLEI accused Okada of pocketing US$443,835.62 and US$500,000.00 in salaries for April and May 2017, and US$2,215,000.00 in consultancy fees from November 18, 2016 to March 31, 2017, all supposedly without the proper authorization from the TRLEI’s board.Usui, meanwhile, was accused of facilitating the payment to Okada.Okada maintained he lawfully earned the money involved.The Parañaque City Prosecutor’s Office initially dismissed the complaint but a Department of Justice prosecutor based in the main office in Padre Faura, Manila reversed the ruling and indicted both Okada and Usui for estafa under article 315 of the Revised Penal Code in December 2018.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/17/18/gaming-tycoon-kazuo-okada-indicted-for-estafa">Gaming tycoon Kazuo Okada indicted for estafa</a></li></ul>A Parañaque court, in January 2019, issued arrest warrants against the two.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/06/19/court-orders-japanese-tycoon-okadas-arrest">Court orders Japanese tycoon Okada&#x27;s arrest</a></li></ul>Okada and Usui moved to quash the arrest warrants but the court denied their motion, prompting them to question the ruling before the Court of Appeals.<div> CA RULING</div>The CA, in its December 2021 ruling, rejected the prosecution’s theory that Okada, being unauthorized to receive the compensation, was considered to have held the money in trust and was obliged to return it.Instead, CA ruled Okada received the money as payment for his services as former CEO and consultant.He was, therefore, the court said, the owner of the money and could not have misappropriated it.The appellate court also absolved Usui because he was not the only officer involved in releasing the payment to Okada.Finding that the trial court acted with grave abuse of discretion and that there was no probable cause, the CA reversed the lower court’s ruling and quashed the warrants of arrest.The CA did not anymore tackle this issue in resolving the motion for reconsideration filed by the OSG and TRLEI.But it ruled that the OSG was not deprived of due process when it supposedly did not receive a copy of the CA’s December decision.The appellate court also doubled down on interpreting the word “trust” in the Revised Penal Code to favor accused Okada and Usui, saying that because there was ambiguity as to whether it includes constructive trust or only applies to express trust, the ambiguity has to be resolved in favor of the accused.In an express trust, a trust relationship is clearly established between a beneficiary and trustee while none is expressly agreed upon in constructive trusts.“There being a conflict in the proper interpretation of the word as it is used in Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, the Court merely applied the age-old principle of lenity and adopted the interpretation that is more favorable to the accused,” the court said.“Thus, We concluded that, since the receipt of the petitioner of the subject amounts did not fall within the enumeration of paragraph 1(b) of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code, there can be no finding of probable cause against him as one of the elements of the crime is wanting,” it added.Okada is currently engaged in a battle for control over Okada Manila, with his group taking over control of the operations, after the Supreme Court issued an order restoring the situation prior to his removal as CEO in June 2017.The other group, however, accused Okada of employing violence in the May 31 takeover and has filed complaints including kidnapping and serious illegal detention before the Department of Justice, while challenging the SC order.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/07/11/22/rival-okada-manila-camps-trade-barbs-anew">Rival Okada Manila camps trade barbs anew even as casino resort&#x27;s earnings rise</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/06/22/charges-filed-vs-kazuo-okada-camp-over-violent-takeover">Criminal charges filed in DOJ vs Kazuo Okada camp over &#x27;violent takeover&#x27;</a></li></ul><div> RELATED STORY</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2123324" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The CA Former Sixteenth Division stood by its December 9, 2021 decision which dismissed the estafa charges and quashed the warrants of arrest against Okada and Takahiro Usui.

CA affirms ruling junking estafa charges vs. Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada

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CA affirms ruling junking estafa charges vs. Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 14, 2022 04:16 PM PHT

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Kazuo Okada

Court of Appeals

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