Dr Stanley Ho’s fourth consort Angela Leong hasn’t exactly made a name for herself as a rabid socialist since she was elected to Macau’s Legislative Assembly in 2005.
That hasn’t stopped Dr Ho, Ms Leong, and a number of associates reportedly attempting to donate around HK$8 million to Australia’s governing Labor Party in the 2007-08 financial year.
Given that there’s no such thing in politics as a free lunch, or indeed a free donation, there’s been much speculation as to what Dr Ho hoped to achieve with the money, which in the end was politely returned by the politicians, according to reports in the Australian media.
Top of the gossip agenda was Dr Ho’s possible interest in the future of Sydney’s Star City casino, which during the time of the donations was the subject of a nine-month licensing wrangle between its owner Tabcorp Holdings and the New South Wales gaming regulator (since happily resolved).
Dr Ho hasn’t had much change from the Australians over the years. In the 1980s he reportedly pulled out of one consortium bidding for an Australian casino licence when the regulators indicated they were going to go public with some due diligence findings on his Macau business interests.
Given the hammering Dr Ho and his companies took in the global credit crisis, Asian Gaming Intelligence assumes that in future his donations to overseas political parties will be harder to come by.
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