PJ: Junket operations “senior staff” allegedly embezzled nearly HK$100 mil from L’Arc Macau

The city’s Judiciary Police (PJ) confirmed yesterday that Casino L’Arc Macau has reported of a “senior staff” working at the junket operations of the casino having allegedly embezzled HK$99.7 million (US$12.9 million), a case that the police are pursuing as fraud.
The confirmation came from the PJ spokesman and head of economic crimes division Chan Cho Man during a press briefing yesterday, where he noted that the case had been reported by the casino on Sunday.
L’Arc Macau is one of the fifteen satellite (third-party managed) casinos that is operated under a service agreement with Macau-based casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd. Casino L’Arc Macau was opened in September 2009.
Business Daily has requested more details on the alleged embezzlement case from L’Arc Macau, but did not receive a reply by the time the story went to press. The licence holder of the satellite casino, SJM, has also not remarked to us on the impact that the case could have on the company’s performance.
Citing unidentified industry sources, local broadcaster MASTV reported that at least ten VIP gaming rooms operating inside Casino L’Arc Macau were affected by the alleged embezzlement by the junket operations senior staff.
The alleged capital theft from Casino L’Arc Macau comes just months after a similar case reported by local VIP gaming operator Dore Entertainment Co Ltd to the police in September last year.
Dore, which runs VIP operations at Wynn Macau casino, said at the time that a former cage manager has allegedly stolen over HK$100 million from the cage, and used her power to illegally pool in deposit capital offering high interest rates without the company’s knowledge. The local police said more than HK$500 million was stolen from the VIP gaming promoter following reports of Dore’s reported loss plus other individual investors’ reported losses of money deposited with Dore.
Following the Dore incident, the casino regulator Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has put forward a set of stricter accounting guidelines for the junket operators in Macau to follow starting in 2016.
The guidelines state that all junket operators have to compile a monthly accounting report to the bureau, and that they also have to disclose to the bureau details of the key personnel in charge of the financial operations of the junket firms.