Suspicious casino deals reach 300,000 in 2010

Suspicious casino deals reach 300,000 in 2010
Vítor Quintã

In 2010 local casinos filed almost 300,000 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the gaming regulator. However, only two of those transactions ended up in court.

According to official data disclosed on Tuesday, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) received 293,931 STRs last year, up 46 percent from 2009. The more suspicious cases are then sent to the Financial Intelligence Office.

“Most suspicious cases reported are due to patrons who didn’t provide the necessary information,” DICJ legal adviser Duarte Chagas said during the first edition of the Annual Review of Macau Gaming Law.

The STRs were created as a tool to prevent money laundering. But in the last four years the number of cases sent to the Public Attorney’s Office (MP) was only a small percentage of all reports.

In 2007, 64 cases were sent to the MP, a figure that rose to around 100 in the last three years. Of those, only five resulted in prosecution and then later in convictions: one in 2007, another in 2008 and three in 2009.

“It’s not a very high number but that’s what happens in all jurisdictions,” Chagas said. He also stressed that the five convictions may not have been linked to money laundering but to other crimes such as tax evasion.