Crown casino junket operator ran business with ex-adviser to Daniel Andrews, donated to NSW Labor
The man at the centre of a controversial plan to lure Chinese high-rollers to Crown casino has been revealed to have links to Premier Daniel Andrews, as well as a ties to a company that made donations to the Labor Party.
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The architect of controversial Crown casino junkets for Chinese high rollers set up a business with a key China adviser to Daniel Andrews.
Tom Zhou — known as “Mr Chinatown” — also rubbed shoulders with the Labor leader in 2012 at an event run by the Australian Hubei Association, part of the Chinese Communist Party’s overseas influence operation.
And the Herald Sun can reveal Mr Zhou’s company donated $26,600 to the Labor Party’s NSW branch in 2015.
Corporate records show that, in 2012, Mr Zhou set up property development company ZYTT Pty Ltd with three others including Mike Yang, Mr Andrews’s senior adviser on multicultural affairs in opposition from 2011 to 2013.
Mr Yang left the business before it purchased a Bourke St building for $15 million in 2013, which housed the Hubei Association chaired by Mr Zhou.
The Herald Sun is not suggesting Mr Zhou or Mr Yang engaged in any wrongdoing.
The Melbourne-based businessman is at the centre of a storm that has hit Crown over his role in bringing rich Chinese gamblers to Australia, sparking an inquiry ordered by Attorney-General Christian Porter yesterday.
The government had been under pressure to respond to allegations of money laundering, organised crime links, questionable visa processes and Crown’s relationship with Commonwealth officials.
Another of ZYTT’s shareholders is Tian Di, reportedly detained in China when police cracked down on Crown’s operations there in 2016.
Asked about Mr Andrews’ meeting with Mr Zhou, and Mr Yang’s business connection to him, a spokesman for the Premier said: “As Premier for the past 4½ years, and as opposition leader before that, Mr Andrews has met lots of people, some of them Chinese.”
Mr Zhou and Mr Andrews were pictured together at a Dragon Boat Festival event in Melbourne in 2012, along with officials from China’s Consulate-General in Melbourne.
Mr Porter yesterday directed the Australian Commissioner for Law Enforcement Integrity to investigate the Crown saga. He said the agency had “very significant investigative powers”.
Crown said it would assist with the probe but described “allegations of illegality” as “ill-informed and an attempt to smear the company”.
The federal government and the Opposition rejected a crossbench plan for a parliamentary inquiry into Crown. Greens MP Adam Bandt said: “Liberal and Labor are running a protection racket for current and former ministers with connections to Crown casino.”
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Mr Yang declined to comment, while Mr Zhou did not return calls from the Herald Sun. Mr Zhou is also the chairman of the Huaxing Arts Group of Melbourne and the Australian Hubei Chamber of Commerce, set up by Mr Yang.
Huaxing Arts Group, backed by Communist Party organisations, last year boasted of its database on politicians, celebrities and artists, which it shared with Beijing.
Mr Zhou is an honorary chairman of the Melbourne chapter of the Australian International Golf Association, a networking group for Chinese businessmen.
Mr Andrews yesterday encouraged anyone with allegations relating to Crown to come forward, saying “no one gets a free pass on integrity and probity”.