The Chinese government has weighed in on the Las Vegas Sands-Richard Suen drama that is playing out in a Las Vegas courtroom, denying two key assertions at the heart of the dispute—its reputed influence in the Macau casino licensing process, and the claim, made at times by LVS Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, at times by others, that the billionaire casino mogul played a part in winning the country the 2008 Olympic Games.
Mr Suen, a Hong Kong businessman, is suing LVS for US$328 million, claiming he is owned a substantial fee plus a percentage of all the company’s profits since it entered the Macau market in 2004 under the terms of an agreement he had to help the company obtain a casino license by delivering key political contacts in Beijing.
In Nevada state court in Las Vegas last week, Mr Suen’s lawyer, John O’Malley, detailed meetings he said Mr Suen arranged with China’s then-Vice Premier Qian Qichen and with Beijing Mayor Liu Qi. The lawyer also claims that Mr Adelson offered at that time to use his political clout to quash a US House of Representatives resolution opposing China’s Olympics bid on the grounds of its human rights record.
LVS and Mr Adelson acknowledge there was an agreement with Mr Suen but contend that he did nothing to earn the money.
The Chinese government appears to agree. The Foreign Ministry emphasized to Reuters yesterday that the Macau casino licensing process was and is an internal matter.
“The process was carried out by the special administrative region’s government by themselves on the principles of openness and transparency in accordance with the law,” the ministry said in a statement.
In the government’s first official pronouncement on the Olympics bid, the ministry said it was won in accordance with relevant processes and denied any connection with casino gaming in Macau.
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