US-based union questions CE regarding ‘undocumented’ Cotai land deal

Signage for the Wynn Palace project, developed by Wynn Resorts Ltd., is displayed at an entry gate to the construction site

The US-based International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) sent a letter to the Chief Executive Chui Sai On requesting that his office provide details on a deal that ultimately allowed a Wynn Resorts subsidiary to acquire rights to the area of land where the operator is now building its Wynn Palace.
IUOE is once again inquiring about what is described as “the undocumented commitment of land rights in Cotai to a group of businessmen from Beijing”. In doing so, they are asking for more information “on what role former Chief Executive Edmund Ho played in committing these land rights.”
An alleged monetary transaction that took place in 2009 between a Wynn Resorts subsidiary (Palo Real Estate) and the Macau-based Tien-Chiao Entertainment and Investment Company Limited is under scrutiny again. IUOE says that the USD50 million deal allowed TienChiao Entertainment and Investment to relinquish their rights to a Cotai Strip site. In September 2011, Wynn Macau announced that it had received a land grant in Cotai from the Macau government.
IUOE claims to have reviewed over 200 pages of Cotai land documents recently acquired via a request for public records from the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT).
According to IUOE representative Jeff Fiedler, DSSOPT “handed over more than 200 pages, filed in 31 separate entries, covering step-by-step the land concession process,” beginning with Wynn Macau’s initial application filing in February 2006 and ending with the awarding the concession in December 2011. Those documents were attached to the letter sent to Chui Sai On and are available IUOE’s website, www.CotaiLandDeal.com.
“The voluminous documentation and record-keeping in this Cotai land file, dating back to the mid-2000s, shows that the government did indeed document this land granting process in great detail. The records here contradict the excuse that the Macau government didn’t put things on paper,” Jeff Fiedler said.
“However, the glaring omission in these Cotai land documents is any reference to the Macau government committing land rights to businessman Ho Ho prior to 2006. Why would the government document seemingly everything concerning this land in Cotai except this critical and valuable earmark to Ho Ho and his associates?” Mr Fiedler asked.
As has been the case with IUOE’s previous press releases, the “Cotai land deal” is mentioned in great detail, involving the name of Ho Ho and his company (Chinese Entertainment and Investment Company Limited), also owned by Macau businessman Cliff Cheong.
“Of note, an initial member of Ho Ho’s team pursuing the Cotai development rights was an individual named Cliff Cheong. Mr. Cheong testified in an unrelated U.S. lawsuit that he has close family and business ties with Edmund Ho. He further disclosed that Edmund Ho personally asked him to facilitate a joint venture between the two casino operators during the gaming concession tender process in 2002,” the press release states.
In its letter to the Chief Executive’s Office, the IUOE is seeking an explanation of the role that former Chief Executive Edmund Ho played in committing land rights to the Ho Ho group. Further, the letter asks why the government allegedly requested that Wynn Macau deal with the Ho Ho group, as they apparently held no documented right to the Cotai land.
The Times last interviewed Jeff Fiedler via email in June 2014, when the IUOE, which claims to represent “over 2,000 stationary engineers in Nevada casinos,” opened the Cotai Land Deal website. The mentor of the now-defunct website CasinoLeaks-Macau explained that while conducting research on Wynn Macau, the IUOE came across the Cotai land deal,” which he claimed involves “people from Beijing, who were apparently little known in Macau.”
“We thought that by making the research public perhaps people in Macau, Hong Kong, and China might help fill in the gaps,” he explained.
In September, Steve Wynn commented on the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) probe into Wynn’s Cotai land deal. “They were satisfied with the inspection (…) Everything about our land [can be found in] disclosures since 2006 and everything about those transactions is so crystal pure and clean, that you could drink it” Steve Wynn said in a press conference.
However, a day after these statements, the region’s anti-
graft agency said it was still examining a land deal from Wynn Resorts Ltd: “Regarding the media’s enquiry into Wynn Macau’s statement about the land deal in Cotai on 23 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.” PB

An interested party

In the letter addressed to Chui Sai On, IUOE claims that it is a shareholder of Wynn Macau’s US-based parent, Wynn Resorts Ltd. and is therefore “an interested party.” Hence, the union says that it has legal rights to the information requested from the chief executive in the letter.

Praise for DSSOPT’s ‘compliance’

According to the union, the fact that the DSSOPT complied with the IUOE request “may blaze new ground for information requests” in Macau. “We appreciate the Land Bureau’s compliance with our records request, and we hope that our successful request sets a new precedent for government transparency in Macau,” Mr Fiedler stated. “Stakeholders in the Macau gaming industry, be they investors, reporters, casino employees and their unions, or everyday citizens, should be able to petition the local government for record access.”