A former Canadian ambassador was associated with an investment made in a VIP room in a Macau casino leased from the Hong Kong business magnate Stanley Ho. Allegedly, the ex ambassador has received cash payouts which were delivered to him by hand in Vancouver on a monthly basis, as being part of a scheme that might have put Canada Revenue Agency prosecutions in jeopardy.
According to US documents, the federal employee, John Peter Bell, who was eventually linked to the gambling mogul Stanley Ho, had previously served in some top foreign affairs roles, including being an ambassador to Malaysia. Ho, who is also known for his links to organized crime groups in China, is one of the most powerful people in the gambling sector.
Records and documents show that at the time when Bell entered into his Macau business deal, he took the position of Canadaās chief federal negotiator for the land claims of the BC First Nations. However, in an interview with Global News, Mr. Bell denied having made a direct investment with Ho in Macau, but rather shipping a US loan worth CA$375,000 to a consortium of Hoās VIP room investors, with the latter including a cousin of Bellās.
The former Canadian ambassador also denied any in-depth knowledge about the room, saying that he was now aware of the fact that he had been dealing with some crooks. Furthermore, he said that he was unaware of any regulations being broken at the time when everything happened.
Bellās Investment in Macau Started in 2000, Says His Cousin
No reports of the case have been previously made. Global News revealed that the evidence on the case filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia includes legal written declarations, legal, baking and accounting records made in the period from 2000 to 2011, e-mails, as well as both government and corporate records.
The media reports have emerged at a time when shocking revelations about the relationship between Macau-style VIP gambling and massive money laundering scheme taking over British Columbia Lottery Casinos. The revelations made undoubtedly alerts of possible wrongdoings that need to be further investigated by the competent authorities.
As mentioned above Global News found out that the cousin of Mr. Bell, David Stuart Levy, was involved in the consortium of Mr. Hoās VIP room investors. As a matter of fact, it was exactly Mr. Levy who introduced the former Canadian ambassador to the Macau investment in question, with the pair allegedly having taken advantage of what was called a āmutually beneficial relationshipā in a scheme involving the factory inspection business of Mr. Levy in Hong Kong, his investment in Mr. Hoās Macau VIP room, as well as some first-class business connections of Mr. Bell.
As reported by Global News, Mr. Levy revealed that the investment of the Canadian federal employee in Macau began in 2000, when the two of them visited one of Stanley Hoās casinos. The documents presented to the BC Supreme Court, however, do not provide any explanation about the way Mr. Levy had previously got acquainted with the Hong Kong gambling mogulās VIP room lease.
According to claims made in the aforementioned documents, the VIP rooms of Mr. Ho provided anonymous betting options to corrupt Chinese officials in order to secretly export an illegally generated money by using high-limit gambling options in Macau, as well as organized crime networks. The VIP rooms in question have been allegedly associated with money laundering of criminal proceeds generated from corruption schemes on the territory of China. The rooms were also notoriously related to drug trafficking, prostitution, and loan sharking. The 96-year-old Mr. Ho has always denied any links to organized crime and money laundering.
