CCAC says Wynn land deal probe still under way

Steve Wynn went to the University of Macau on Tuesday to meet students and journalists

Macau’s anti-graft agency said it’s still examining a land deal by Wynn Resorts Ltd., a day after the U.S. company’s chairman Steve Wynn said he thought the probe was over.
“The relevant investigation is still under way,” the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) said yesterday. It declined to elaborate (see box).
“They’re satisfied with the inspection,” Wynn said on Tuesday. The 72-year-old casino billionaire said he was unaware of further requests by Macau authorities for information from the company. Asked if the probe was over, he replied: “I think so.”
Wynn Resorts, based in Las Vegas, said in July it’s cooperating with the government agency on inquiries into the land purchase for the company’s new casino resort on Macau’s Cotai Strip. CCAC is investigating why Wynn Resorts was made to pay 400 million patacas (USD50 million) for the land rights.
Katharine Liu, spokeswoman of Wynn Resorts’ Hong Kong- listed unit Wynn Macau Ltd., said she couldn’t immediately comment.
The new Macau resort, called Wynn Palace, is on track to open in the spring of 2016, Wynn said yesterday.
“It’s totally mundane, irrelevant,” Wynn told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the investigation into the deal, after giving a speech to students at a local university. “Everything about the transaction is so crystal clear and clean that you could drink it like a bottled water,” he added.
Wynn Macau erased earlier gains to drop 1.7 percent to HK$25.35 at the close of Hong Kong trading. Wynn Resorts’ Nasdaq-listed shares rose 0.9 percent to close at $182.83 in New York, before the Macau agency’s response.
Gross gaming revenue in Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, fell a third straight month in August as China’s anti-corruption campaign prompted high-rollers to avoid its gambling halls, hurting casinos’ earnings including at Wynn Macau. Vinicy Chan, Bloomberg

CCAC’s statement

“Regarding the media’s enquiry into Wynn Macau’s statement about the land deal in Cotai on 23rd September 2014, the CCAC makes the following response:
The relevant investigation is still underway. To observe the principle of judicial confidentiality, the CCAC will neither make any comments nor provide any supplementary information on the case.”