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Spat in Macau Tak Chun junket trial has judge threaten witness with perjury

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The court hearing involving former prominent Macau junket Tak Chun devolved into a spat on Wednesday, with the defense lawyer accusing the judge of coercing the witness, with the judicial stating that declarations made by the former Tak Chun employee were “absurd” and “vague”.

According to Macau Business, the prosecutor made the accusations against the witness, a former senior vice president of Tak Chun overseeing cage management, of not giving affirmative answers regarding having received instructions to authorize proxy betting and under-the-table betting.

The judge went so far as to say that the witness was “hiding something” and that the witness wanted to “protect someone”, notes the publication.

The judge went so far as to say that the witness could be charged with perjury over her statements, stating that answers forthcoming indicating senior executives in the company had not had a hand in lower-level employees’ decisions regarding the alleged illicit betting operations were not accurate.

The judge informed the defense that “the court does not tolerate lies”, notes Macau Business.

“Do you think it is reasonable to be fooled (by the witness)?” questioned the judge during the proceedings, notes the publication.

The lawyer of the witness, Cherie Wong Pui Keng – who is set to testify in further proceedings, called for a review of the recording of the questioning, has called for a review of the recording of the testimony.

The case involves Macau’s former number two junket operator (second only to Suncity, whose boss is still under trial over alleged tax evasion and criminal association), with Macau’s government claiming damages of up to $73.6 million in alleged lost revenue due to its purported under-the-table actions.

Five of the city’s gaming operators are seeking compensation from the firm for the alleged actions, with claims reaching $17.24 million.

Kelsey Wilhelm
Kelsey Wilhelmhttps://agbrief.com
Kelsey Wilhelm is a broadcast, print journalist and editor based in Asia for over 15 years. Focused on content creation, management, cross-cultural exchange and interviews for multi-lingual productions. Writing focus on gaming, business, politics, culture and heritage, events and celebrities, subcultures, music, film, art and fashion. Some of Kelsey's specialties are: editing, writing, copy creation, multi-lingual content production, cross-cultural exchange, content creation and management for Asian markets.

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