The trial of former Suncity chairman Alvin Chau continued on Thursday, with the court summoning the Judiciary Police (PJ) officer in charge of investigating the case. The witness was questioned by Chau’s lawyer about the PJ’s record of betting under the table transactions alleged to have taken place in Suncity’s Macau VIP rooms, replying that the police are still tracing the whereabouts of said money but there is no record of such transactions in the evidence.
Unlike the earlier stages of the trial, exchanges between the two sides were full of fireworks on Thursday as the judge and the prosecutor interrupted the attorney’s questions on several occasions.
Earlier, on Wednesday, the PJ witness gave his testimony via a Powerpoint presentation he had made himself, not orally like previous witnesses. Lawyer Pedro Leal questioned this at the time, stating, “In this format, the witness is not answering questions”. But Leal’s point was refuted by the prosecutor, who said, “When is it your turn to talk? You are disturbing the witness’ testimony”.
On Thursday, the witness cited a Powerpoint which said Suncity had provided its employees with a “teaching process” to teach them what betting under the table was, however Chau’s lawyer Leong Weng Pun asked, “Who produced this teaching process and who gave it to the employees?”
However, the prosecutor again interrupted the lawyer’s question and stressed, “The witness does not need to answer your question”. The PJ officer replied that the tutorial was found on Suncity’s server, but it was unclear who created it.
The indictment shows that the defendant operated betting under the table gambling activities in 229 VIP rooms, but Leong asked, “How was the number 229 arrived at when there were only 20 or so VIP rooms run by Suncity?”. Again, this question was refuted by the judge, who said that the question should be answered by another PJ investigator, not this PJ witness.
Lawyer Pedro Leal then asked about a series of computer files which showed they had been modified between January and February 2022.
“All the Suncity servers were seized by the Judicial Police in November 2021, why were the files modified in January and February of this year?” he queried.
The witness responded, “I’m not a computer professional, I don’t know if the date of these files were changed during the investigation, I’m not sure.”
Another lawyer representing Suncity, Chao Koc Keong, asked the PJ officer, “Is there any evidence or witnesses who have said that Suncity promotes betting under the table?”
The officer responded, “I have heard witnesses mention it, but I have forgotten the names of that witnesses.”
Chao continued, “The court has called a number of witnesses over the past few days, but none of them have said anything about Suncity’s promotion of betting under the table.”
The judge rebutted, “The police have interviewed many witnesses, but not every one of them has testified in court.”
“Do the police have any records of money transactions at the gaming tables? Is there any information on that?” Chao asked?
The PJ officer responded, “No, there is no evidence, and the police have not yet traced the whereabouts of the money.”
