Character witnesses highlight sense of responsibility and generosity of Tak Chun’s boss

The trial of the Tak Chun Group CEO and eight other defendants continued yesterday at the Court of First Instance (TJB).

In a session dominated by testimonies from several character witnesses about Levo Chan’s positive character traits and community reputation, all character witnesses agreed the former junket boss has a high sense of responsibility as well as great generosity and selflessness.

The first witness was Macau’s Holy House of Mercy president António José de Freitas who revealed a long relationship with Chan that has lasted over a decade. Freitas described how Chan’s Tak Chun Group’s charitable branch, as well as Chan in person, have supported the activities of the Holy House of Mercy, assisting those in need.

According to Freitas, Chan is quiet and cordial with a very positive perspective on life and is very keen to support those in need by distributing food.

Freitas said Tak Chun oversaw one full month of food distribution with Chan often participating in the activities in person.

He also said that over a decade ago, at Chan’s request and initiative, he helped establish the Tak Chun Charity association. He said Chan has always been involved in the organization’s meetings and works, actively seeking to know which areas he should focus on to help more.

Freitas said that during the pandemic’s early days, Chan, through the Holy House, had sent financial help to Portugal.

Local artist, president of the Macau Artist Society, and the chairman of Macau Culture Development Promotion Association, among other titles, Lok Hei took the stand to tell how Chan stepped in to allow the creation of what is known today as “Tak Chun Art Garden.”

According to Lok, Freitas introduced Chan to him. At the time, Lok was leading a project to establish the “artists’ house.” He said the project “should have been done by the government,” but as the government side “failed to support it, it was him [Chan] that replaced the government [role] on this.”

“[Chan] went personally to check on the venue, a building that was almost in ruins and was unused for over 20 years,” Lok said, adding, “After that and our first long talk when I explained the project, he was very quick to respond and then assigned a person [in the company] to continue to follow up.”

Lok told the court Tak Chun has always supported the project that has created many opportunities for local artists, including young artists. He said Chan has financially defrayed costs such as rent, construction, repairs, and many other things needed to implement the project. He also noted he had never profited from items such as rentals charged to artists for the individual studios.

According to Lok, Tak Chun Group’s help conclusively led to associations and groups involved in the Art Garden project’s foundation to commend the company to the central government as a reputable charitable organization.

Lok noted Chan was also responsible for many mainland projects that included art projects and the building of several schools in Sichuan province, among others.

The last of the character witnesses heard yesterday was Vong Kok Seng, president of the Charity Fund of the Readers of the Macao Daily News. He explained Tak Chun’s support of their activities, namely the “Macau Walk for a Million.”

PJ investigators can only confirm 12 unlawful gaming activities

The TJB also heard yesterday from several Judiciary Police (PJ) investigators overseeing investigations into bank accounts, a software of registry of Tak Chun’s clients, and SMS messages about money transfers the PJ believes are directly related to high rollers’ illegal bets.

Two PJ investigators testified yesterday that in 12 of 194 SMS messages investigated, Tak Chun’s client software matches the money tracked in both the amount and the purpose of the transfers.

The PJ investigators said several times it was impossible to obtain proof from the other SMS messages as “Chan/Tak Chun destroyed a significant part of the evidence,” they said.

The lawyers and the judge more than once criticized both PJ investigators for the “harmfulness of making such a groundless statement.”

The investigators tried to prove in court that there was a system where unlawful bets were marked with asterisks and other codes on the client’s software and that third-party collaborators would transfer money to Tak Chun, usually passing first from an account of another of Tak Chun’s workers, namely Chan’s secretary.

To a question from the defense lawyer on the certainty of the purpose of the money transfers, one of the PJ investigators said it “might be from under-the-table betting or also phone betting,” or even both.

The PJ investigator seemed more certain that the 12 SMS messages could be traced to certain clients. HKD500 million was traded between the clients and Tak Chun, which the PJ says originated from illegal gaming activities, namely under-the-table bets.

Over the phone and ‘multiplier’ betting authorized by Chan

The PJ told the court earlier this week phone betting was conducted on behalf of Tak Chun’s customers in Macau to casinos abroad, namely in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Such a procedure has been part of a Tak Chun staff training handbook since at least 2018.

The PJ investigator also provided proof that on several occasions in 2019, the company’s meeting minutes mentioned phone betting and the pros and cons of using such an activity were debated. The investigator noted it was clear company executives knew such activity was illegal.

Also in a previous session, the prosecution used wiretap recordings to prove Chan was aware of, and authorized, so-called “multiplier bets,” also illegal in Macau. Such bets allow boosting the amount played in each bet, without playing a gaming chip of the face value.

The PJ investigator, who will continue to testify in court next week, said the purpose of these “multiplier bets” was, among others, to avoid further inspection of trading any chips valued over HKD500,000, which requires a more complex form that identifies the user and of bets over the same amount that, by default, will be included on a system of “suspected transactions,” she said.

According to the president of the presiding trio of judges, it is likely the trial will reach the period of closing allegations in less than two weeks.