text:
The Macau-based casino joint venture between
Melco Crown Entertainment, which is one-third owned by Mr Packer's Crown Ltd, is co-operating with the investigation of the Taiwan branch of its wholly owned MCE International Limited subsidiary – a company that targets high-roller gambling clients and brings them to Macau casinos.
Sources in Australia confirmed the subsidiary is under investigation in Taiwan, though rejected a widely circulated report that Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie was being investigated by Taiwanese authorities. Mr Craigie is a non-executive director of the MCE International subsidiary but has not been linked to the case.
Two MCE International staff have been detained for questioning and documents have been seized from the firm's Taipei offices.
According to reports in the Taiwanese media, prosecutors have applied to freeze company funds held in local bank accounts, alleging MCE illegally made transfers between Taiwan and casinos in Macau of more than $US180 million over the past three years.
The investigation reportedly centres on the direct transfer of cash from MCE to casinos in Macau, a violation of Taiwanese banking laws which only allow registered banks to engage in international currency exchange and transfers.
Maggie Ma, head of corporate communications at Melco in Hong Kong, said the company was not in a position to comment on the progress of the investigation in Taiwan other than to say it "related to certain activities regulated by their banking regulations".
"None of Melco Crown Entertainment's corporate entities has been charged at the current time, and we believe our corporate activities are consistent with general market practice," Ms Ma told The Australian Financial Review.
"We always strive to operate within the confine of applicable rules and regulations and to uphold good corporate governance, as you know. If required, we will co-operate with the authority, where necessary."
A Crown spokesman said the company was referring inquiries to Melco Crown because the Taiwanese operations in question are a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based company, not the Australian company.
The most recent investigation is not the first time Crown's Macau partnership has been embroiled in controversy.
In 2009, Melco Crown's two casinos in the Chinese gambling mecca were included by prosecutors on a list of 10 "suspect projects" relating to bribery in an indictment against the island territory's former public works minister. Ao Man-long, the official in charge, was subsequently found guilty of nine counts of bribery and money laundering but Melco Crown was not one of the companies he was found to have helped win government tenders for casino projects.
The Australian Financial Review