‘IPI now owes over $55.4M’

As of Tuesday this week, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC now owes the Commonwealth Casino Commission over $55.4 million after having failed to pay the $15.5 million annual license fee and $3.1 million annual regulatory fee since 2020, according to CCC board chair Edward C. DeLeon Guerrero.

At the CCC board’s regular monthly meeting in the CCC’s conference room at the Springs Plaza Building in Gualo Rai, DeLeon Guerrero said that IPI’s failure to pay the annual license fee and annual regulatory fee is now the subject of an ongoing CCC litigation against IPI.

With respect to $15.5 million annual license fee, he said IPI already owes a combined total of over $46 million, while for the $3.1 million annual regulatory fee, it owes a total of $9.4 million.

The board later went into an executive session to obtain some updates on the ongoing cases the CCC has been pursuing against IPI.

As for CCC’s finances, DeLeon Guerrero disclosed that their bank account contains a very small amount.

He said that CCC’s efforts to contact then-governor Ralph DLG Torres when he was still in office and now with the incumbent, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, have yet to result in any positive sign to assist the CCC during this period.

DeLeon Guerrero suggested that they try to meet with Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang once more.

In his opinion, whatever the CNMI government gives CCC would be sort of a “temporary loan” because once the commission receives the funds that IPI owes, any amount that is contributed to CCC will be paid back in full.

“As of now, we don’t have any. We are out, that’s why all the staff have been released,” he said.

DeLeon Guerrero said they are also delinquent in their office rental and that they would discuss more on what to do with that issue as well as what CCC should do beyond March.

He also expressed concern about the last-minute termination of their employees as there is no financial assistance for them to recover.

DeLeon Guerrero said the Commonwealth needs every revenue that they could generate and the casino industry is not a separate industry operating in a vacuum. “It is a complement to our tourism industry and it gives our tourists more choices and experiences on island,” he said.

He said the casino industry could generate revenue that may be used by the new administration and new members of the Legislature to address their priority needs.

He also believes that the monopoly or exclusivity of the casino industry needs to be examined by policymakers.

“Again, we’re not the entity to do it because we are the enforcers. Whatever the Legislature puts down in the law, we will enforce and we get blamed a lot on why are you doing that and why are you not doing this? Most of these situations [just mean we’re] following the law and if it’s not in the law, we cannot do it,” DeLeon Guerrero said.