In his 29th status report, Michael Dotts, attorney with Imperial Pacific International, said in federal court that he was aware of concerns about the safety of one of the cranes at the IPI construction site in Garapan.
“The Commonwealth Casino Commission apparently asked the attorney to let the court know [issue]”Added Dotts.
“While this measure is not directly related to the safety of the construction site, it is mentioned here in the interests of public safety and at the request of the CCC, the attorney will investigate how serious the matter is,” Dotts said.
He also informed the court that he will withdraw his representation of the IPI for failure to pay legal fees.
He said he would petition for resignation later this week and the IPI is now looking for an assistant attorney.
In November 2020, Dotts also retired as an IPI consultant because his fees were not paid.
Unsolved
In his most recent report to federal court, Dotts said that “the issue of the additional amount IPI owes some of its employees has not yet been resolved.”
But he said the payroll was distributed in full on July 30th without incident.
IPI’s next paycheck is due Aug. 13 (Payroll 17), Dotts added.
He said IPI’s parent company made the August settlement payment via wire transfer to the U.S. Department of Labor on July 30, 2021.
The next settlement payment will be due on September 1, he said.
Regarding staff room and board, Dotts said, “The lease for Lucy’s Apartments has been terminated and IPI is in the process of moving the staff who live there to the Sugar King accommodation. This is part of the cost-cutting effort. “
Dotts added that on August 3, six employees will be repatriated from the Philippines.
“The IPI is still waiting for the Chinese Embassy to approve Saipan-Korea-China flights to repatriate some remaining Chinese citizens,” he said.
As ordered by the court, construction work at the Imperial Pacific Resort in Garapan is still suspended.
To date, from January to August 2021, IPI made settlement payments totaling $ 821,350.60.
According to the Modified Consent Ruling, from April 1, 2021 through December 1, 2021, IPI will make incremental monthly payments of $ 164,270.08 for a total of $ 1,478,430.72.
