The trial of Alvin Chau Cheok Wa (pictured in a file photo), and other defendants linked to the now-defunct Macau casino junket Suncity Group, is set to begin on September 2. That is according to the schedule published on the website of Macau’s Court of First Instance.
Macau’s Public Prosecutions Office has indicted Mr Chau, the founder of Suncity Group, for illegal gaming, criminal association, fraud, and money laundering. In total, 21 people have been indicted under the same criminal case.
According to an indictment – first publicised in late May – Mr Chau has been charged with founding and leading a criminal group, two crimes that combined are punishable with a minimum of eight years in jail. The other people were charged with leading or being part of a criminal group, which carries a lighter sentence.
Mr Chau has been in pre-trial detention since his arrest in November last year. He has also been charged for illegal gambling. Such offences allegedly included providing illicit gaming activities in venues otherwise approved for gaming, as well as running illicit online and proxy betting.
Other charges against Mr Chau and some of the other defendants involved money laundering, and fraud against the city’s six casino operators and the Macau Special Administrative Region, according to the indictment.
A number of the city’s casino operators are also complainants in the September 2 case, claiming millions of U.S. dollars from Suncity Group, GGRAsia has learnt.
Mr Chau is also the former chairman and an executive director of Hong Kong-listed casino investor Suncity Group Holdings Ltd. He resigned from the positions with effect from December 1, and recently sold his controlling stake in the firm.
