An ABC investigation reveals the links between a company with a major stake in Australia's most expensive casino venture and notorious organised crime figures in Hong Kong and Macau.
A key shareholder in Australia's most expensive casino development has a long history of association with organised crime figures and people blacklisted by gambling regulators around the world, an ABC investigation has confirmed.The major Star partner has had ties to several notorious gangsters in Hong Kong and Macau
"You know what you know and you don't know what you don't know. I had no knowledge about those parties." Chow Tai Fook owner Henry Cheng and father Cheng Yu Tung during the company's trading debut in 2011. The company's chequered history includes a role in a failed Australian casino bid with discredited gambling tycoon Stanley Ho and interests in his companies, which have been blacklisted in New South Wales.
The late Cheng Yu Tung built his family's fortune on jewellery shops and property developments before he partnered with Macau casino king Stanley Ho in the early 1980s.Ho died in 2020, but his pivotal role in building Macau's casino empire means hundreds of billions in gambling revenue has flowed through the former Portuguese colony since 2002.
When Cheng Yu Tung and Ho opened their Macau VIP rooms, they used the 14K and Sun Yee On Triads as debt collectors. This partnership opened the door to loan sharking, violence, prostitution and drug trafficking. "Broken Tooth" Koi , is arrested by police chief Antonio Marques Baptista , who also went by the moniker “Rambo”.
Mr Clement recalled being introduced to the jewellery tycoon at an event at the Canadian High Commission in Hong Kong. It said Chow Tai Fook's stake in STDM put Cheng in "direct partnership" with Yip Hon, a property mogul who was named in US government reports as an organised crime figure and Triad member.
The New Jersey report also noted intelligence linking an associate of the patriarch's son, Henry Cheng, to organised crime, and that American casino executives had "reservations about Henry Cheng as a partner".The ABC is not suggesting Henry Cheng or Chow Tai Fook are engaged in criminal activity, but these matters raise important public interest questions about Chow Tai Fook's suitability as a Queensland casino owner.
He is currently awaiting trial for 286 criminal charges including money laundering, fraud and criminal associations. Confidential investor documents obtained by ABC Investigations show the Cheng flagship Chow Tai Fook used companies in the notoriously secretive tax haven of the British Virgin Islands to hold its interest in the Vietnam casino.
The Bell Inquiry into Star's NSW casino revealed Star possessed a report from a former Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission investigator, now working for the gaming operator, which laid out Mr Chau's alleged Triad ties. New World, a company in the Chow Tai Fook group, joined Stanley Ho's 1987 bid for the Darling Harbour Casino licence in Sydney, which was eliminated from the process after probity checks.
When Stanley Ho was banned from the NSW casino industry in 2014 for his organised crime associations, the Cheng family had corporate and board interests in three of his blacklisted companies. "There was an independent panel that made the recommendation to cabinet, which cabinet today has endorsed," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"Look, it's incredibly concerning to me as the minister and I think any of this new information that comes to light will absolutely be investigated," she said. Despite what the ABC has uncovered, Ms Fentiman said she was advised that the investigations into Chow Tai Fook were "extensive" and found the company suitable as a casino owner.ABC Investigations can also reveal that a subsidiary of the Brisbane casino co-owner is in business with an associate of longstanding crime boss "Broken Tooth" Koi.
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