Kazuo Okada excluded from returning to boards

A court ruling in Japan bars entrepreneur Kazuo Okada from returning to the boards of Universal Entertainment or Okada Holdings, the operators say.

Japan.-  A decision by the Tokyo District Court is believed to effectively exclude Kazuo Okada from returning to the board of Universal Entertainment or Okada Holdings, operator of Okada Manila, for the next 30 years.

Okada was forced out of the company in 2017 by his son, Tomohiro Okada, thanks to his 43.48 per cent stake and a Trust Agreement with his sister, Hiromi Okada, to control voting rights on her 9.78 per cent.

Hiromi later reconciled with her father and last year presented a claim in Hong Kong against Tomohiro and Universal, saying she had been tricked into signing the Trust Agreement. However, the agreement was deemed valid by a Tokyo court in 2019.

Now the Tokyo District Court has also rejected Kazuo and Hiromi’s appeal over the issue.

The court ruled that the agreement between the Okada brother and sister will “remain in effect for 30 years, with Tomohiro Okada given control of OHL”.

This prevents former chairman Kazuo Okada from returning to the boards of both companies within the period.