A mainland gambler reported to the Judiciary Police (PJ) on December 26 that he had been cheated out of HK$21.6 million in casino winnings, PJ spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a press conference yesterday.
According to Chan, the suspect in the case is a 41-year-old businessman surnamed Li from the mainland who had been introduced to the victim by a friend in June last year.
In September, Li arranged for the victim to get a raft of credit limits from VIP rooms.
The victim won a total of HK$21.6 million between the middle and end of September and temporarily deposited his winnings in Li’s VIP room account. Li promised to transfer the money to the victim’s bank account on the mainland. But Li kept giving the victim different excuses as to why the money hadn’t been transferred.
According to Chan, the money was never transferred to the victim’s account on the mainland.
The victim had been calling the suspect for several months to get his money back, but to no avail. Finally, the victim reported the case to the Judiciary Police last month.
The surname, gender and age of the victim were not revealed by Chan.
According to Chan, the Judiciary Police asked Li to go to a police station on Tuesday for questioning. Under questioning Li denied the allegations and claimed that the victim had only won HK$3 million.
According to Chan, a junket operator has meanwhile confirmed that the victim won HK$21.6 million in September and deposited the winnings into Li’s VIP account. Afterwards, Li instructed the junket operator to transfer the HK$21.6 million, Chan said. He did not elaborate.
Li was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on Wednesday and faces a charge of abuse of trust – involving a considerable amount of money – officially defined as exceeding 150,000 patacas.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man (left) and Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Choi Iok Kin pose during yesterday’s regular press conference by the city’s two police forces. Photo: Camy Tam
