Inos denies Forbes claim of ‘fix’ in casino license award

Inos

Gov. Eloy S. Inos denied yesterday a claim made by a Forbes columnist that the selection process in the issuance of an exclusive Saipan casino license was “fixed.”

“Fix? How is that? There was no fix,” said Inos during an interview with reporters at a groundbreaking ceremony for an islandwide road marking and signage upgrade.

Inos said he does not know anything about the Forbes article and said that he will look into it.

In an article titled “‘No banana republic’ US-owned Saipan acts it in casino battle” that was published on July 16, 2014, Forbes Asia contributing writer Muhammad Cohen wrote that throughout “the drive to legalize casinos on Saipan, it seemed as if the fix was in for Best Sunshine.”

Hi article outlines the history of efforts to legalize casino gaming on Saipan, when two prior efforts were rejected by voters.

“However, in March, after the House passed a casino bill, the Senate approved it a day later, without public hearings or committee consideration,” Cohen stated. “One thing had changed before the March vote: in late January, investors with ties to Macau junket promoter Hengsheng Group had hosted four key CNMI senators on a visit to Hong Kong and Macau, one of a series of so-called ‘fact-finding’ trips from late last year by CNMI elected officials, including Gov. Eloy Inos. Best Sunshine’s parent company, then called First Natural Foods, announced its investment in Hengsheng last November, paying 400 million Hong Kong dollars (US$51 million) to the younger sister of First Natural’s 34 year old controlling shareholder for an estimated 5 percent share of the junket promoter’s profit stream.”

Inos pointed out that what people should be looking at is the result when the Commonwealth opened up the bid process for the exclusive casino license.

“If it was fixed, we will receive only one [proposal], but there were two proposals that were submitted,” he said.

Inos also said there was a request for proposals, “so how could that be a fix from the beginning?”

“There was another interested firm and they went through the bidding process and we are where we are right now,” Inos said.

He said there will always be people who will question the process. “There are skeptics out there all the time, no matter what,” and that there are people “who just don’t believe in it.”

“And to justify their reason, they’ll go against it and use any justification,” he added.