Marina Bay Sands probed over AML practices: report

Jun 05, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck  

---

The Marina Bay Sands casino resort (pictured) in Singapore is being investigated by the United States Department of Justice over compliance procedures in relation to the venue’s anti-money laundering (AML) controls, reports Bloomberg.

Marina Bay Sands is also facing questions in Singapore from the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) into the venue’s money transfer policies, according to the news outlet.

GGRAsia approached Las Vegas Sands Corp, the U.S.-based parent of Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd, in relation to the report. The parent said it had no comment.

An industry source told GGRAsia however that neither Marina Bay Sands nor Las Vegas Sands had been contacted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

GGRAsia also approached Singapore’s Casino Regulatory Authority, seeking comment on the report.

It stated in an email: “CRA is committed to ensuring that the casinos in Singapore, including Marina Bay Sands, remain free from criminal influence or exploitation, and takes a serious view of any allegations of unauthorised money transfers involving the casinos.”

Bloomberg said the U.S. investigation concerned to the way funds had allegedly been handled in some cases in relation to some high-value gamblers.

The news outlet stated it had received a written response from Marina Bay Sands saying any suggestion of inappropriate activity is taken seriously, and that it investigates every assertion of wrongdoing brought to its attention.

The Singapore regulator said in its email to GGRAsia: “CRA was already aware of the allegations prior to the publication of Bloomberg’s article. We are unable to comment further as investigations are ongoing.”

The news outlet mentioned claims about money transfers relating to Marina Bay Sands made in a lawsuit lodged with the Singapore High Court last year.

A person called Wang Xi sued Marina Bay Sands challenging the authenticity of authorisation documents relating to fund transfers. He was seeking to recover funds amounting to SGD9.1 million (US$6.5 million) that were in a casino account and that reportedly were sent in 2015 to other people without his approval.

Singapore’s two casino venues – Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, the latter run by Genting Singapore Ltd – have been closed since early April due to measures to contain the spread in Singapore of Covid-19.

(Updated 9.18pm, June 5)

---

---