Court upholds 13-year sentence for former Macau junket boss Levo Chan
Chan and other defendants must pay US$235.1m as compensation for gains from illegal gambling.
Macau.- The Court of Final Appeal has confirmed a 13-year prison sentence for former junket boss Levo Chan. The Court also required Chan and other defendants to pay HK$1.83bn (US$235.2m) to the government in compensation for illicit gains linked to unlawful gambling. The sum is lower than what was previously ordered by the Court of Second Instance.
The Court upheld the prison sentences for the other four defendants involved in the case: nine years for Cherie Wong Pui Keng and Betty Cheong Sao Pek; 10 years for Wayne Lio Weng Hang; and seven years for Edward Lee Tat Chuen. The court rejected the appeal from the Public Prosecutions Office, which sought increased prison terms for the defendants. It also dismissed the appeal from the five defendants who aimed to reduce their sentences.
In January, The Court of Second Instance reduced Chan’s prison term from 14 to 13 years, rejecting the Prosecutions Office’s appeal for harsher penalties.
Chan was arrested in January 2022. He and eight others were charged with crimes including illicit gambling, money laundering, and defrauding the Macau government and its casino concessionaires. Four of the defendants were acquitted during court proceedings. Initial sentencing occurred last April.
Gaming-related crimes in Macau: 1,021 cases recorded in first nine months of the year
The Judiciary Police (PJ) in Macau has reported that gaming-related crimes rose 42.6 per cent year-on-year to 1,021 in the first nine months of the year. The was 36 per cent lower than in 2019.
Security secretary Wong Sio Chak said in a press conference that 2,835 people had been arrested in connection with unlicensed foreign exchange. Meanwhile, Fraud accounted for 25 per cent of cases (254), followed by loan sharking (195), misappropriation (150 cases) and theft (113 cases). Other offences included trespassing, assault, and kidnapping.
New legislation on gambling crimes entered into force in October. The bill bans currency exchange for gambling and the operation, promotion, and organisation of online gambling and mutual betting irrespective of the physical location of systems and devices. It also introduces provisions enabling searches of residences from 9pm to 7am and prohibits the sale of the Mark Six lottery organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC).
Some 13 alleged unlicensed currency traders have been arrested in a series of raids conducted in 23 different provinces and cities in Macau and Cotai. Police seized HK$2.7m (US$350,000) along with HK$540,000 in gaming chips.
