Previous Story
Casino commission orders BSI to show lease deals
The Commonwealth Casino Commission has directed Best Sunshine International, Ltd. to show the regulatory body the lease agreements it has signed with the Department of Public Lands and other entities.
The commission said the lease deals it wants to see includes the lease Best Sunshine signed for the Garapan property where it plans to build its first hotel and casino and the lease for the “temporary live training facility” at the T Galleria.
Commission executive director Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the commission wants to review the leases and check if the lessors can be classified as casino service providers.
Deleon Guerrero explained that anytime Best Sunshine enters into any kind of agreement, including a lease with a landlord, the commission needs to review it, as per the commission’s regulations.
But if it’s just a landlord-tenant agreement, the regulators might not need to review it, he said.
However, Best Sunshine has yet to submit or show the leases.
Commissioner Martin San Nicolas stressed that anytime the casino licensee conducts a transaction involving money, the commission needs to know about it.
“We are just doing our job and making sure that funds are not going through different channels,” San Nicolas said.
A visibly irate San Nicolas said Best Sunshine cannot just insert confidentiality clauses on agreements that the licensee signs and that procedures need to be followed with the regulator—in this case the casino commission.
Deleon Guerrero echoed the same sentiment, saying that Best Sunshine cannot just tell regulators that an agreement is “confidential.”
The casino commission held a public meeting on Capital Hill last Tuesday to discuss updates on Best Sunshine and possible changes to the casino regulations.
Saipan Tribune tried to obtain comments from a Best Sunshine representative at the meeting but he declined to respond to queries.
