The trial of 18 Crown Resorts employees begins in Shanghai’s Baoshan District Court on Monday amid suggestions the accused will each be handed sentences of three years or less.
The 17 current and two former staff were detained by Chinese authorities last October before being officially charged with promoting gambling offences on 12 June. They include Crown’s head of international VIP gaming Jason O’Connor, fellow Australians Jerry Xuan and Pan Dan, Malaysian Alfread Gomez plus a number of Chinese nationals.
It is expected that sentences will prove similar to those handed down to 13 employees of Korean casino operators Paradise Co and Grand Korea Leisure last year, with most set free following their trial after spending 18 months in detention.
However, in a worst case scenario Crown’s employees could be jailed for up to 10 years, with Jin Chunyu, partner at Shanghai Bright and Young Law Firm, telling Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph that, “The usual legal punishment of this crime is no more than three years in prison and a fine if the crime isn’t ‘serious’.
“If it is, then above three years and no more than 10 years with a fine.”
Crown Resorts has hired Liu Haitao – the lawyer credited with keeping employees of British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline out of jail in 2014 after being charged with bribery – to defend its employees.
