Angela Leong
SJM Holdings executive director Angela Leong has confirmed that the company filed a police report for the alleged theft of HKD99.7 million from a junket company operating at L’Arc Macau.
Ms Leong confirmed that the case, as reported in the Times yesterday, involves a senior executive at the junket company who allegedly disappeared with the stolen money. She added that the suspected embezzlement had nothing to do with SJM and that she expects the police investigation to be swift and conclusive.
However, a MASTV report indicates that the suspect, surnamed Chan, was a supervisor for several of L’Arc’s VIP rooms operating. He reportedly had a close working relationship with Angela Leong, who is also a lawmaker. The report, as cited in the Jornal Tribuna de Macau, indicated that “he [the suspect] was someone that she [Angela Leong] trusted.”
According to an ET Net News report, the stolen money “was originally for junket commission payment for December.”
The Judiciary Police (PJ) received a complaint about the case on January 3, and subsequently revealed that at least one depositor and investor claimed the suspect had illegally raised capital for a junket operator in 2015.
Even before the incident, gaming analysts were pessimistic about the junket industry’s outlook for 2016. The Union Gaming Securities Asia issued a note last week saying that the junkets face “an even tougher 2016 than 2015,” forecasting that VIP gaming revenue would shrink by another 12 percent this year.
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