Angela LeongA U.S.-based trade union has submitted a letter addressed to the Court of Final Instance asking for clarification on the interests of lawmaker and businesswoman Angela Leong in 23 companies reportedly not listed in her financial disclosure form, required as per Macau law for individuals holding office.
The letter from the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) – a trade union in the U.S. representing approximately 400,000 construction workers, is addressed to the President of the Court of Final Instance, Sam Hou Fai.
The letter is dated October 31 and requests a reply within 10 working days.
It says that a division of the U.S.- based trade union, known as Local 501, is investigating a venture between slot machine and lottery games provider International Game Technology (IGT) and Hong Kong-listed Paradise Entertainment, which operates satellite casinos under Sociedade de Jogos de Macau’s (SJM) gaming concession.
Local 501 represents over 2,000 maintenance engineers and slot machine technicians in Las Vegas, Nevada, while IGT operates a subsidiary in the MSAR called IGT Asia- Macau Lda.
“These findings necessarily led us to research SJM and its principals, including executive director Angela Leong On Kei, who also serves as a standing member of the Macau Legislative Assembly,” the letter reads.
After referring to Leong’s 2013 financial disclosure form, the IUOE letter suggests that the lawmaker might have an interest in 23 Macau- based companies not included in her mandatory declaration.
“It is our understanding that members of the Legislative Assembly are required to make regular financial disclosure statements, which are available to the general public on the Macau judiciary website,” notes IUOE in the letter.
“Regarding Assembly Member Leong’s Macau company holdings, we request from your office clarification on her interests in the 23 Macau-based firms listed below and whether she is required to include these in her 2018 financial disclosure statement.”
Leong’s financial disclosure statement shows that, as of 2013, she had stated interests in 31 Macau-based firms, 87 based in Hong Kong, 99 in the British Virgin Islands, six companies in mainland China and another six in Australia.
The 23 companies listed in the IUOE letter cover the sectors of hospitality, consultancy, logistics, food and beverage, media and communications, and land development.
The list includes Panda Sociedade de Gestão de Investimentos limitada, a subsidiary company of the Ho family’s Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau and Shun Tak Holdings, which owns the New Yaohan department store in downtown Macau, having acquired it in 1997.
Another company on the list is Invest – Sociedade de Desenvolvimento e Promoção de Investimentos, S.A.R.L., which is the registered owner of local media outlet Jornal do Cidadão, according to government records.
Meanwhile, land developer “Companhia de Investimento Predial Hoi Sun, Limitada” was one company to have its land plot in Taipa confiscated by the Macau government in 2015, on account of failing to meet its “obligation to use the land within the time limit.”
Some of the companies do not appear to be active. Good Harvest Enterprises (Macau) Limited, for example, is listed only in a government document dating back to 2005. The filing says that the firm had capital valued at MOP100,000 at that time.
— Updated today (Monday) with correction on paragraph #4.
No Comments