HK tycoon is charged with money laundering
Print Edition
A PROMINENT figure in Macau’s casino junket industry has been charged in Hong Kong with laundering HK$1.8 billion (US$232 million) through bank accounts in the city, local police said yesterday.
Cheung Chi-tai is facing three separate counts of money laundering, according to a charge sheet provided by Hong Kong authorities.
The businessman was a major investor in publicly traded Macau junket operator Neptune Group. Police in Hong Kong, which is an hour’s ferry ride from Macau, have been investigating him since November, when they were granted a court order freezing his assets under the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
Cheung has been dogged by allegations of ties to Chinese organized criminal gangs, known as triads.
The 54-year-old was named as a triad leader in a 1992 United States Senate subcommittee report and in recent Hong Kong and US court cases, though he was never charged with any related crimes.
Junket operators arrange for wealthy Chinese mainland gamblers to travel to Macau, lend them money to gamble and then collect any debts when they return home. However, because casino debts are unenforceable on the mainland, there are suspicions that some junket operators work with organized crime to collect debts.
Macau is the only place in China where casinos are legal. The enclave’s economy has boomed over the past decade after authorities opened up the market to outside operators such as Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts.
But casino revenues are slumping and junket operators are coming under increasing scrutiny amid a corruption crackdown by the government.
According to the charge sheet, Cheung faces three counts of “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offense,” which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
He was released on HK$200,000 bail and is due back in court in September.
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