Security guards claim IPI owes four payrolls

The company currently has 17 security guards, but some of them are not reporting to work due to payroll delays.

Northern Mariana Islands.- IPI is reportedly continuing to have problems paying its employees’ salaries. Mariana’s Variety has reported that its remaining security guards in Saipan have not received pay ofr June and that the company now owes four payrolls. Some of the 17 security guards have stopped going as a result.

Meanwhile, it was reported that representatives of financier IH Group wanted to attend today’s meeting between IPI and the Commonwealth Casino Commission. However, the casino commissioner Ramon M. De la Cruz opposed the request.

IH Group, a South Korean company, has signed a letter of intent to provide IPI with a capital injection of $150m to enable it to meet its obligations to creditors, resume operations and resume construction, 

De la Cruz said that as the casino commission is under a temporary restraining order from the federal court, it cannot address the problems related to IPI. He said it can only discuss administrative matters within the commission, which is required by law to meet regularly.

IPI has reportedly paid its debts with construction workers, except for Jess Aquiningoc, the former head of Imperial Pacific International’s construction team, who has sued the company.

Aquiningoc said IPI owes him for paid time off that he accumulated over the past two years. He said he had to borrow money and go into debt with family and friends as a result.

Due to continuous delays, the CCC has filed an opposition to IPI’s motion for a preliminary injunction that prevented it from revoking IPI’s casino licence.

According to CCC attorneys, the basis of IPI’s initial motion is that Section 30 of the Casino Licence Agreement (CLA) requires arbitration, or an alternate resolution outside court, for its force majeure defence.

IPI filed its motion for preliminary injunction eight months after CCC executive director Andrew Yeom filed five enforcement actions against it and over a year after the commission suspended IPI’s licence after two evidentiary hearings.