But the full story of Chau and his gambling junket operation, Suncity, is also a tale of financial and organised crime in Australia, and the work of a mostly hidden federal agency, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. Sydney’s The Star Entertainment casino firm was just as eager to woo Chau to access his contact list of Chinese high rollers. But in a statement, ACIC chief Phelan confirmed his agency was increasingly using its compulsory interrogation powers to disrupt criminal operations and had also jailed three unnamed individuals who had failed to answer questions at secret hearings. Sources have confirmed that during this time, ACIC was able to develop an unprecedented overview of Suncity’s operations, including how it had helped suspected Chinese criminals move huge sums to and from Australia.

Vacant residential land tax portal

On November 27, staff working for the most colourful man in international gambling were led out of his Macau office handcuffed and wearing black hoods. Access and manage your vacant residential land tax information.

The Sydney Morning Herald

According to ACIC, Cheng is a senior figure in the powerful Chinese organised crime gang, the 14K Triad. Cheng was investing in many of Chau and Suncity’s corporate subsidiaries via offshore companies. By 2017, according to official sources in state and federal agencies – who requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak publicly – ACIC had drawn a direct line between Chau and a Hong Kong crime boss, Cheng Ting Kong. As organised crime detectives in Sydney and Melbourne uncovered similar examples, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission began doing its own work. When federal detectives examined his financial dealings, they uncovered a $403,000 deposit into a gaming account at The Star Sydney. As Chau’s international gaming operation grew, though, so did the rumours that it involved dirty money.

Gaming watchdog urges Premier to call pokies money-laundering inquiry

Chau’s Australian business flourished between 2012 and 2019, helping to earn him enough capital to finance action movies in Hong Kong and major casino projects in Russia and Asia. Use this portal to access and manage your land tax information. But having been effectively called out as an organised crime enabler in Australia, the clock was ticking on Chau.

Chau’s operation also gave him the ear of the Chinese Communist Party elite who didn’t mind a punt and who, Australian authorities suspected, online pokies may also have wanted to quietly move large amounts of money to Australia. He came up with schemes to provide them credit in Australia, while also arranging to collect the debts they incurred in Australian casinos. According to media reports, the 47-year-old got his break as a 20-something disciple of Macau organised crime boss Wan “Broken Tooth” Kuok-koi. The arrest of Chau in Australia was never deemed likely, but ACIC hoped to displace Chau’s multibillion-dollar operations from Sydney and Melbourne and make him vulnerable to arrest offshore.

• Cheng was investing in many of Chau and Suncity’s corporate subsidiaries via offshore companies.
• As organised crime detectives in Sydney and Melbourne uncovered similar examples, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission began doing its own work.
• Brogan refused to answer questions from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald about what, if anything, he knew about Chau’s criminal links.
• When federal detectives examined his financial dealings, they uncovered a $403,000 deposit into a gaming account at The Star Sydney.
• According to media reports, the 47-year-old got his break as a 20-something disciple of Macau organised crime boss Wan “Broken Tooth” Kuok-koi.

Phelan also revealed the federal government had last week appointed three new “examiners” to join its team of ACIC hearing room interrogators. It also confirmed that until March 2020, it had “performed some small routine annual tax work for this the Suncity group of companies”. Brogan refused to answer questions from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald about what, if anything, he knew about Chau’s criminal links. He conceded Cheng was still involved but insisted he was “squeaky clean”.

Chau had even been appointed to a prestigious CCP committee, a seemingly quiet endorsement of his operations. For years, the Chinese Communist Party had allowed Chau to build his junket empire, even though it appeared to conflict with the party’s anti-gambling edicts. The public reporting of Chau’s activities in Australia at the NSW Bergin inquiry and at the Finkelstein royal commission in Victoria placed Chinese authorities in a bind. As it looked into Suncity operatives behind closed doors, ACIC also provided information about the company to the state commissions of inquiry into Crown Resorts that, along with media exposés, led to the overhaul of Crown and Australia’s gambling industry. “Coercive examinations are one of the tools we use to exert maximum pressure on all levels of the criminal enterprise,” he said.