TOKYO, Jan. 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Tokyo District Court has issued a decision, as described below, regarding the lawsuit filed by Universal Entertainment Corporation ("UEC"), as the plaintiff, against Access Journal Co., Ltd. and its representative director, so we are providing notice of this.
1. Court issuing the decision and date of the decision:
Court: Tokyo District Court
Date of the decision: January 20, 2014
2. Background of the litigation
On November 8, 2012, UEC filed a damages suit against defendants Access Journal Co., Ltd. and its director because of damages incurred from defamation of name and damage to credit, due to an article ("the Article") posted on the Access Journal website on October 26, 2012.
3. Summary of the decision
(1) Defendant Access Journal Co., Ltd. shall delete the Article.
(2) Defendant Access Journal Co., Ltd. shall publish on its website an apology ad to the plaintiff pursuant to the conditions asserted by the plaintiff.
(3) The defendants shall jointly and severally pay to the plaintiff 1.65 million yen.
4. UEC's opinion
The recent decision by the Tokyo District Court, as well as the entirety of the submitted evidence, has made it clear that the $35 million transfer of funds from the UEC Group reported in the Article was not a briber to a government official of the Republic of the Philippines. This court decision fully supports what UEC has been asserting in regards to UEC's Philippine casino resort project, namely that UEC did not make any illegal payments, such as bribes, to any Philippine government official.
Accordingly, our understanding based on this court decision is that UEC's assertions have been accepted practically in their entirety in regards to the deletion of the Article, the posting of an apology and the facts.
Note that UEC has also filed lawsuits seeking damages compensation for defamation and such against Reuters and Asahi Shimbun, each of whom published articles reporting that there was an illegal transfer of funds from the UEC group in regards to UEC's casino resort project in the Philippines, similar to the aforementioned litigation. Those lawsuits are currently pending in the Tokyo District Court, but UEC is confident that in those cases as well, the truth will be revealed, that those reports were based on speculation and conjecture, just like the present court decision.
For details, please refer to the UEC IR press releases dated December 4, 2012 and March 22, 2013, entitled "Announcement regarding Filing of Litigation".