A prosecutor of Parañaque City may face administrative and criminal charges over leaked documents that landed in the hands of the paramour of a Japanese tycoon who was expelled from his gaming conglomerate by his own family for squandering company funds.
City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac was accused of bias and gross partiality by the family of Kazuo Okada after a resolution yet to be officially released by Paudac’s office was posted last week in the Instagram and Facebook accounts of Chloe Kim, known to be Okada’s Korean lover.
Okada is facing multiple counts of estafa before the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office for embezzling more than $10 million of Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc. funds between early 2016 and June 2017.
TRLEI is the owner and operator of the posh Okada Manila in Entertainment City, Parañaque, where Okada was its former chief executive officer before he was booted out by majority shareholders composed of his wife and children.
In a motion, TRLEI is demanding that Paudac inhibit himself from the cases being handled by his office due to the impression created by the release of advance copies to Mr. Okada that said release must have been for substantial monetary consideration considering the amounts in the estafa cases and the personalities involved.
“As city prosecutor, [he] is expected to manifest such degree of impartiality which should not be tainted by scintilla of doubt,” TRLEI said.
It added, “Resolutions purportedly disposing the captioned cases in favor of respondent Okada have apparently been leaked… as shown by the unlawful publication thereof in the Facebook and Instagram accounts of his close companion, Chloe Kim although said resolutions have not been officially released.”
In her social media accounts of May 18, Kim posted photos of the dispositive and signature portions of the purported resolutions dismissing two estafa cases against Okada and other former officers of TRLEI.
Said resolutions were not yet accessible to counsels of the Okada family as of May 21, 2018.
Kim had caption on her photos which read: “Devils will go the hell soon! 2 estapa cases against Kazuo Okada of OkadaManila dismissed. Justice prevails.”
“Kim already had a copy of, or had access to, the very same resolutions that complainant TRLEI’s counsel could not access from the Office of the City Prosecutor” last Monday, the motion said.
“There is factual and legal basis to believe that City Prosecutor Paudac is biased and partial in favor of respondent Okada to the grave prejudice of complainant TRLEI,” it added,
As the city prosecutor, Paudac was the last person to sign and approve the resolutions and had the ultimate authority and administrative supervision over official releases of the resolutions.
“With the alacrity with which Chloe Kim and Mr. Okada obtained in advance copies of the said resolutions, TRLEI cannot help but fear that the resolutions had been pre-arranged with City Prosecutor Paudac to favor Mr. Okada,” it also said.