And on December 1, the Suncity high-roller travel business ceased its casino operations in Macau, the place where it all began. On November 28, Macau police remanded him in custody to face trial for alleged criminal association, illegal gambling, money laundering and running an illegal online gambling operation in the Philippines. Under Australian corporate law, international businesses need an Australian resident director to oversee their online casinos corporate and tax obligations, and Brogan appears to have fulfilled that role. By the late 2000s, almost every major Macau casino had a Suncity high-roller room where Chau’s clients could gamble huge amounts in luxury settings, away from the prying eyes of mainland authorities. The Triad leader reportedly encouraged a friend to bankroll Chau’s initial business venture, a “junket” enterprise focused on luring Chinese high rollers from the mainland to glittering casinos in Macau.
Last week, the director of operations at Sun Stud, David Grant, described allegations that Chau part-owned Sun Stud as a “long bow”. In September, corporate filings reveal that Chau offloaded his last Sun Stud holding to Cheng via a British Virgin Islands company. Official sources not authorised to comment publicly say ACIC investigations into Cheng allege he is involved in “orchestrating large-scale money-laundering activity in Australia and the sourcing and distribution of heroin both in Hong Kong and overseas”.
Vacant residential land tax portal
The Macau-headquartered and Chau-owned “Suncity Gaming” had, according to intelligence briefings ACIC provided NSW and Victorian police, “significant capabilities to facilitate large-scale money laundering between Australia and China”. Over a year earlier, ACIC had added Chau’s junket business – the Suncity firm dealing with Crown and The Star and which was generating billions of dollars in high-roller turnover – to its Australian priority target list. It is not suggested that Brogan was personally involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity, only that he is involved with Suncity.
Crime, casinos and communists
Chau’s operation also gave him the ear of the Chinese Communist Party elite who didn’t mind a punt and who, Australian authorities suspected, may also have wanted to quietly move large amounts of money to Australia. He came up with schemes to provide them credit in Australia, while also arranging to collect the debts they incurred in Australian casinos. According to media reports, the 47-year-old got his break as a 20-something disciple of Macau organised crime boss Wan “Broken Tooth” Kuok-koi. The arrest of Chau in Australia was never deemed likely, but ACIC hoped to displace Chau’s multibillion-dollar operations from Sydney and Melbourne and make him vulnerable to arrest offshore.
- It is not suggested that Brogan was personally involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity, only that he is involved with Suncity.
- He conceded Cheng was still involved but insisted he was “squeaky clean”.
- ACIC exists to feed high-grade intelligence to state and federal agencies.
- But in a statement, ACIC chief Phelan confirmed his agency was increasingly using its compulsory interrogation powers to disrupt criminal operations and had also jailed three unnamed individuals who had failed to answer questions at secret hearings.
Phelan also revealed the federal government had last week appointed three new “examiners” to join its team of ACIC hearing room interrogators. It also confirmed that until March 2020, it had “performed some small routine annual tax work for this the Suncity group of companies”. Brogan refused to answer questions from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald about what, if anything, he knew about Chau’s criminal links. He conceded Cheng was still involved but insisted he was “squeaky clean”.
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