SCC wants IPI held accountable

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce asked the Commonwealth Casino Commission yesterday to hold Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC accountable for their violations of labor laws, wage and hour laws, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations.

In a scathing letter to CCC board chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, SCC president Velma M. Palacios said: “No investor that touts a $7-billion casino investment should have any difficulty completing their first phase of development and paying their past due payroll, taxes, and fees timely—even in a pandemic.”

She said IPI should be held to the same standards as the rest of the business community in practicing good corporate citizenry and governance.

When asked for comments, IPI chief executive officer Donald Browne pointed out that, to date, IPI has invested around $1 billion in the CNMI and paid over $300 million in taxes and fees to the government, more than all of the SCC members combined.

“It’s easy to pick on businesses when they’re struggling. Rational thinkers know well that the CNMI has been insulated from the effects of the pandemic due to the federal government bailout,” Browne said, yet IPI has not received even $1 in federal assistance.

“Once the Keynesian stimulus runs out at the end of this month, the CNMI will need businesses determined to weather the storm,” he said.

Browne said they are not giving up without doing everything they can to ensure their existence and the existence of all businesses in the CNMI.

He noted that since the award of the casino license, IPI has created thousands of jobs and generated countless business opportunities for hundreds of local businesses.

Palacios urged Deleon Guerrero to hold IPI accountable in making right by their employees, their creditors, their vendors, and complete on time Phase 1 of their casino/resort project in Garapan, as was agreed upon in their initial $7-billion investment.

“This investment was a promise to our community, and it ensures our collective success,” said Palacios, who is president of the largest business-civic membership association in the CNMI.

Last Oct. 22, the CCC board authorize Deleon Guerrero and deputy commissioner Rafael Demapan as presiding officers to set a hearing date about the five complaints filed by the CCC executive director against IPI before the board for alleged violations.

Citing IPI’s recent decision to deposit escrow fees into attorney’s accounts to avoid their assets being auctioned in federal court instead of paying their employees, Palacios said this indicates the type of investor or business the SCC cannot condone.

She noted that there have also been suspected instances of humanitarian disaster concerning workers who were allegedly abandoned and not paid for many months, which IPI openly does not resolve.

She said that SCC members, “more than most,” understand the difficulties that businesses face while operating in the CNMI. Palacios said their goal is to help both local and outside investors thrive in the CNMI, as their success is the Commonwealth’s collective success.

“As businesses operating in the CNMI, we should all be held accountable for our rippling impacts on our community,” she said.

Palacios said that, just as IPI’s ability to positively contribute to the businesses’ success is great, when agreements and laws are not honored, the negative impacts of misconduct are greatly damaging.

So far, the CCC has filed about five complaints with the CCC board against IPI for various alleged violations.

Last October, CCC acting executive director Andrew Yeom, through CCC counsel Michael Ernest, filed a complaint against IPI before the CCC board over IPI’s failure to pay the $3.1 million annual regulatory fee that was due last Oct. 1.

Before that, on Sept. 24, Yeom filed a complaint against IPI for allegedly not complying with a CCC order that directed IPI to settle in full any payable or contribution owed to a public or private entity and immediately pay any debt owed to any private entity that is more than 89 days old.

Last Sept. 1, Yeom also filed a complaint against IPI for allegedly failing to comply with the minimum capital requirements of CCC’s order, among other issues.

Last August, Yeom filed a complaint against IPI over its failure to pay the $15.5 million annual casino license fee by the deadline last Aug. 12.

Last June, then CCC executive director Charlie Atalig filed a complaint against IPI for allegedly failing to contribute $40 million in Community Benefit Fund money in 2018 and 2019, as required by the Casino License Agreement.