The Macau Intermediate Court has dismissed appeals by former Suncity Group CEO Alvin Chau on evidentiary issues related to his 2022 trial for fraud, criminal association, illegal gambling and money laundering.
Chau, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in January, and some other defendants in the case had lodged three appeals on issues of evidence before and during the trial.
The first instance, before the trial commenced, saw lawyers appeal to the Court of First Instance on the argument that documents collected by the prosecutor’s office after the investigation phase had ended had still been tendered as evidence. They claimed that these documents should not be valid and could not be admitted to the court. The appeal was initially dismissed by the Court of First Instance on 17 August 2022, after which lawyers submitted a new appeal to the Intermediate Court.
The second instance, also before the trial, saw lawyers argue that some information from telephone surveillance was not part of the investigation and should not be included as evidence. Again, the request to the court was dismissed, prompting them to appeal to the Intermediate Court.
The third appeal was made to the Court of First Instance after some defendants had applied not to have their interrogation transcript read out in court after the trial and in their absence. The judge of the Court of First Instance had ignored this request and read out the interrogation transcript of some defendants to the court.
The Intermediate Court last week ruled against all three of these appeals, stating that it maintained the same view as the Court of First Instance and that the Court of First Instance could request the assistance of the police in conducting supplementary investigations during the trial. It also confirmed that the Court had certain investigative powers, and in respect of telephone tapping, held that information from phone tapping was obtained with lawful permission. Thus, the appeal by Chau and others was unfounded.
A number of other appeals are yet to be determined, including one by Chau against a post-trial order dated 13 April 2023 demanding the former Suncity chief post a financial guarantee of not less than MOP$6.5 billion (US$806 million) within five days and ordering the seizure of property held by Chau and his company in London.
Chau has also appealed his 18-year sentence, however the Public Prosecutions Office has launched an appeal of its own, arguing that Chau’s sentence should in fact be increased.
These appeals have not yet been heard by the Intermediate Court.
As reported by IAG, Chau was last week ordered to sell off 36 real estate properties he owns in Macau, said to be worth a combined MOP$600 million (US$74.5 million).
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