The Star under fire for ongoing relationship with Alvin Chau

The Star Entertainment Group general counsel Andrew Power was quizzed on Monday about why the gaming operator has continued dealing with junket operator Suncity after it became aware, via an internal report, of the group’s alleged links to organized crime.

The inquiry was told that Power was presented, in October 2020, with a report from Star’s due diligence officer containing “four important strands of information” related to Suncity, including the alleged “triad antecedents” of its backer Alvin Chau, as cited in a report issued by the Australian Associated Press.

Last week, the casino’s chief financial crime officer, Skye Arnott, acknowledged the relationship, despite being aware that Chau had “very unsavory business associations” linked to the drug trade, money laundering and organized crime.

The report pertained to the Hong Kong Jockey Club report, where it noted that Suncity laundered about AUD2 million per day in cash from 2013 to 2015, adding that the junket mogul was a “threat” and would pose “tangible criminal [and] reputational risks” for the club. 

In an inquiry yesterday, the counsel asked whether the only appropriate decision was to exclude Chau from dealing with The Star as part of the duty of an anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing compliance officer.

The inquiry was also told that Power later provided a “marked up” version of the report to the casino’s due diligence officer, which had removed criticisms of the way The Star dealt with Suncity and Chau in order to “sanitize” the document, according to the Australian news agency. 

Power admitted that there was no recommendation about whether it was suitable for The Star to deal with Chau up until his arrest in November 2021. 

The inquiry also questioned the official about the controversial deployment of China Union Pay cards for VIP patrons to purchase gambling chips at The Star. Although Power said he was not aware of “dummy invoices” related to the cards, he admitted that there was “a practice of dummy rooms being assigned.”

Last month, the inquiry heard that casino disguised AUD900 million worth of Chinese debit card gambling transactions as hotel expenses, and then misled banks in an attempt to conceal the massive instance of fraud.

An inquiry in late March revealed that Chinese high-rollers were allegedly encouraged to deposit millions of dollars into a junket operator’s Macau bank account, where a middle man was present. Clients would deposit tens of millions in cash into his Macau bank accounts, which would later be transferred to The Star from an Australian bank account.

As executive has admitted that at least AUD76 million (around MOP460 million) had been transferred to the casino through a back channel over a period of nine months in 2018 and 2019.

The inquiry is ongoing as part of a regular review of The Star’s casino license. The inquiry, slated to continue today, is determining Star’s suitability to run its flagship casino in Sydney.