A city prosecutor in Parañaque has been asked to inhibit from the estafa case involving Japanese tycoon Kazuo Okada after the latter allegedly obtained a copy of his resolution which has yet to be officially released.
The motion was filed by Tiger Resort Leisure & Entertainment Inc. (TRLEI), the complainant in the estafa cases pending before the Paranaque Prosecutor’s Office where it accused Okada of embezzling more than $10 million of the company’s funds funds between early 2016 and June 2017.
TRLEI is the owner and operator of the posh Okada Manila in Entertainment City, Paranaque, where Okada was its former chief executive officer before he was kicked out by majority shareholders.
In its motion, the TRLEI accused City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac of bias and gross partiality by the TRLEI after a resolution yet to be officially released by Paudac’s office was posted last May 18 in the Instagram and Facebook accounts of Chloe Kim, a know close companion of Okada.
The complainant recounted that it verified the status of the cases in Paudac’s office and was informed on May 21 and was informed that no resolution disposing the said cases was already available for release.
However, TRLEI said it was shocked to learn that as early as May 18, 2018, Kim had already posted on her social media accounts a picture of the dispositive portions of the resolutions bearing Paudac’s signature.
The complainant said it is highly-irregular how Kim, who is not even a party to the cases, could have access to the resolutions as early as May 18.
“In view of the foregoing circumstances, it is clear that copies of the supposed resolutions in the first and second estafa cases have been leaked to respondent Kazuo Okada and/or his close companions, even before the resolutions could be officially released,” the TRLEI said.
“As city prosecutor, (he) is expected to manifest such degree of impartiality which should not be tainted by scintilla of doubt,” it added.
The TRLEI blamed Paudac for the leak since he has the authority to approve resolutions disposing the said cases and has administrative supervision and control over the issuance and release of said resolution.
Being the approving authority, the TRLEI said Paudac was the last signatory to the said resolution.
“Thus, logic dictates that the resolutions disposing the captioned cases could not have been leaked to respondent Kazuo and/or his close companion without the participation and/or fault of City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac,” the TRLEI said.
“As a result, there is a real and unmistakable basis for complainant TRLEI to believe that City Prosecutor Amerhassan Paudac is biased and partial in favor of respondent Kazuo Okada,” it added.