Sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of fraud, triad offences and illegal gambling, Alvin Chau – former chairman of collapsed Macau junket operator Suncity Group – has penned an open letter to China’s President Xi Jinping.
Chau was one of 13 former Suncity employees convicted by the Macau Court of First Instance in January, with prison sentences ranging from five months suspended to Chau’s 18 years, with eight employees sentenced to 10 years or more.
IAG has obtained a copy of the letter which is published in full below:
“If I could write a letter to President Xi Jinping”
This is an open letter.
I was born and raised in a small fishing port. My name is Chau Cheok-wa (Alvin Chau), the founder of Suncity Group, and this small fishing port has become a world center of tourism and leisure. I was just a silent and unknown person in Macau, and it is because of the return of Macau to the motherland and thanks to the central government policy to promote Macau that I have achieved what I did. I love my family, friends and employees in this small place of Macau. It is our home, a place where we all feel the kindness of the Macau people. There is no hatred here, almost no murder cases, it is a very safe place, where everyone lives and works in peace and contentment with an emphasis on sensibility and creditable achievements.
At the beginning, we were a profit-oriented VIP hall operator. Later, with the encouragement and guidance from all walks of life – including the then-Macau government and the China Liaison Office in Macau – our values changed. We introduced professional management, established a corporate mission, brand values and social responsibility, and became a brand for the people of Macau. Our goal changed to protect the interests of our guests, the industry and the development of local talent.
We have been walking step by step for 14 years, and I believe most Macau people knew what kind of company we were. I went to the office almost every day, six days a week with only Sundays off, never bringing home any documents, having no non-business dealings with clients, not receiving any money or gifts from clients, and not having the authority to use any of the company’s funds. I have maintained this mode of work and approach for more than 10 years.
On 26 November 2021, I was taken away by the Macau police for triad crimes and internet gambling. I know very well that these are not violent crimes. I was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in the first trial. My sentence was not changed in the recent appeal to the Intermediate Court.
On the triad allegations: throughout the trial, there was no evidence to prove that I had ordered other defendants to engage in illegal activities, and there was never any witness testimony or documents to prove that any of the defendants, including myself, had received any illegal proceeds. The employees were recruited legally. In the cell phone records and all the meeting minutes over the years, we have never talked about any underhanded business, and we do not have any personal contacts or interactions with our employees. Nor do we have any other relationships outside of labor and employment.
As employees, they were not instructed by me, they did not receive any criminal benefits and they did not have any criminal motives, so how could they have committed triad crimes? They were sentenced from 15 years in the first trial to 12-and-a-half years in the second trial, but we have always believed that Macau is a society with the rule of law.
We have never worried about having committed a crime and being sent to prison, but now we face sentences of more than 10 years of imprisonment. Those who are involved in the case and their family members have collapsed. In general casino crimes do not involve violence and are usually at most worth a few years of imprisonment, so why is the crime in this case so serious? No legal practitioner can explain this.
The people involved are all other people’s children, husbands and fathers. They are all people who came to work after finishing their studies and never thought they would get rich. Isn’t the rule of law in our country and society to protect these people? Why did they get this kind of treatment? Our case is a public trial, and after 20 or 30 years, all Macau people will see that they are innocent. As their employer, I have never paid them any financial benefits other than wages, and if the law permits, I am willing to bear all the legal responsibilities.
On the charges of betting under the table: I have nearly 10 years of communication records in my cell phone, in which I have never discussed with anyone about organizing how to collect accounts or lend money, and have never talked about the flow of funds or the distribution of benefits. There is no sign that anyone has provided benefits to me, and I have never touched the money from betting under the table. In terms of cash flow, it is estimated that this accounts for less than 1% or 2% of the company’s cash flow. Apart from conducting some credit tracing on relevant persons, I basically never asked about it, or called the operation “betting under the table”.
Regarding the overseas VIP room business: this is about “electronic betting” rather than “online betting”, and all bets were placed in physical casinos. At that time, the mainland was cracking down on illegal activities such as offshore gambling, telecommunications fraud, illegal finance, illegal fund transfers, and so on. There were reasons to suspect that some Macau VIP clubs had invested in or participated in illegal activities in Southeast Asia under the name of operating VIP clubs. Recently, the mainland public security authorities successfully cracked down on several criminal syndicates in Southeast Asian countries and arrested more than 10,000 people involved in these crimes. I strongly believe that I or my company have no connection with these illegal activities. Suncity’s core business was to operate VIP rooms, and more than 90% of its business was in Macau. Is this enough to be sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment?
This is a letter open to the public. If the content of this letter is not in line with the facts, the public can testify. There were no victims, no loss of property, no casualties, no corruption, it is just a casino case. We were sentenced to a total of 121 years of imprisonment in the case, breaking the record for Macau sentences since the establishment of the casino industry. Why should we be punished so severely? We have been in business for 14 years. From the first day of our operation, to becoming a world-renowned brand, to the last day of our operation, our entire mode of operation has been almost the same – for more than a decade. So why is there such a big contrast today, with no warning or red lines established beforehand? I understand that there are many problems in our industry, and over the years I have written several articles advising the industry not to over-lend because of the ultimate result of that, which is well known in the industry, so why have we become the target of law enforcement agencies today?
In the case in Wenzhou on the mainland, one of the defendants admitted in his statement that he had operated betting under the table, and that he had won or lost hundreds of millions of dollars in a single betting session. At the first trial, the Wenzhou Court handed down a sentence of seven years and nine months’ imprisonment. At that time, the convicted person felt that the sentence was too heavy and even lodged an appeal. None of the mainland cases were prosecuted as triad society or criminal syndicate offences.
President Xi, you are the greatest President in the history of our country and our spiritual leader. I hope you can speak up for the innocent families. We just need a fair and normal verdict. I do not mean to cause offense, I am just acting due to my responsibilities as a leader. I am really overwhelmed by the situation, and I only hope to salvage the disaster that has happened to all of us, so I make this plea in an audacious manner. I hope you can understand my position.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome, I will definitely follow the country, unite with the people, share the same honors and misfortunes, share the same destiny and share the same life and death.
