‘DPL no control over Dynasty as it’s on private land’

The Department of Public Lands has no control over the defunct Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino as its building sits on private land, according to DPL Secretary Marianne Concepcion-Teregeyo yesterday.

When asked who owns the Tinian Dynasty building now, Concepcion-Teregeyo, through her special assistant, Deveney Dela Cruz, said the only public land that Tinian Dynasty leases from DPL is the entryway/driveway.

“The entire building sits on private land and we cannot answer any questions because it is not under our custody,” Dela Cruz said, quoting the DPL secretary.

A concerned citizen raised the question about Tinian Dynasty’s ownership now and whether it is true that the statute of limitations has run out on the U.S. Department of Justice’s lien against the Tinian Dynasty. The concerned citizen said if there is no lien, then the Tinian Dynasty building could at least be sold to someone who could refurbish it sufficiently to accommodate construction teams that are doing the Tinian divert airfield projects.

When asked by Saipan Tribune about these matters, Office of the Attorney General public information officer Carla Torres said yesterday that, according to Attorney General Edward Manibusan, the subject matter does not relate to the Office of the Attorney General as their office was not involved except for some labor issues they undertook on behalf of the CNMI-Only Transitional Workers employees.

Last year, Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan told Saipan Tribune that it’s Mega Stars Overseas Ltd. that has management rights over the Tinian Dynasty property. Aldan stated at that time that Mega Stars is still looking at an opportunity to reopen the property, either as a hotel or just a casino.

The mayor also said that the municipal government does have an open communication line to Mega Stars’ representatives.

Tinian Dynasty’s casino operations stopped in August 2015, while the hotel operations halted in March 2016.

In 2018, Chun Wai Chan, a corporate representative of both Hong Kong Entertainment (Overseas) Investments Ltd., owner of Tinian Dynasty, and Mega Stars, disclosed before the U.S. District Court for the NMI that the total outstanding liabilities of Tinian Dynasty has now climbed to over $250 million, excluding the $75 million in civil penalty assessed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network against the company.