By Eric Rosario
Ciu Li Jie, the billionaire founder of Imperial Pacific International - the parent company of the Saipan casino - has resigned from the company. In a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, IPI said she is being replaced by Mr. Xu Zhongxiang.
The following is from the announcement:
"The board (‘‘Board’’) of directors (‘‘Directors’’) of Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited (the ‘‘Company’’, together with its subsidiaries, the ‘‘Group’’) announces that with effect from 4 June 2021, Ms. Cui Li Jie (‘‘Ms. Cui’’) has resigned as an executive Director of the Company and ceased to be the Chairperson of the Board, the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Board and the authorized representative (‘‘Authorized Representative’’) of the Company for the purpose of Rule 3.05 of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the ‘‘Stock Exchange’’) (the ‘‘Listing Rules’’) due to her personal time constraint. Ms. Cui has confirmed that she had no disagreement with the Board and there was no matter in relation to her resignation that needs to be brought to the attention of the shareholders of the Company or the Stock Exchange. The Board would like to express its sincere gratitude to Ms. Cui for her valuable contributions to the Group during her tenure of office.
"The Board also announces that, following the resignation of Ms. Cui as an Authorized Representative, with effect from 4 June 2021, Mr. Xu Zhongxiang, an executive Director of the Company, has been appointed as an Authorized Representative of the Company."
According to the announcement, the new board of IPI "comprises Mr. Xu Zhongxiang as executive Director and Mr. Robert James Woolsey, Mr. Ng Hoi Yue, Mr. Lee Kwok Leung and Mr. Ip Mei Shun as independent non-executive Directors."
IPI, both the parent company and its CNMI subsidiary, have come under intense public, political, financial, civil, and criminal scrutiny. Ms. Jie recently released her attorney in the Gold Mantis case, where IPI was ordered to pay damages to seven Chinese workers who helped to build its Garapan monstrosity. She was ordered to show cause for failing to produce information timely to the U.S. District Court of the NMI. She is appealing to Judge Ramona Manglona and alleging her attorney at the time did not inform her properly of the court's orders, and thus did not represent her well.
