A multibillion-dollar company that has partnered with The Star Entertainment Group to build a $4 billion casino precinct in Brisbane has won a court order preventing this masthead from reporting on an inquiry into its connections to organised crime.
Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE) took out an injunction at 8pm on Thursday restraining publication of any part of the report from an independent inquiry into allegations that it was associated with junket operator and convicted organised crime figure Alvin Chau.
“Junket king” Alvin Chau was convicted of fraud and organised crime activities in 2021.Credit: AP Photo/Vincent Yu
The Queensland government had commissioned PKF Integrity Services to investigate the company after the ABC reported in 2022 that it had a concealed relationship with Chau through an ongoing interest in a casino resort in Vietnam.
The report was delivered to the government in December, but has never been made public.
Queensland’s Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath announced this month that, while the report substantiated an association between CTFE and Chau, there was insufficient evidence to find the company was unsuitable to hold a casino licence.
“The Attorney-General determined, with the benefit of further advice from King’s Counsel, that the evidence fell short of establishing that CTFE knew that the relevant person was a person of poor repute during the period of the association,” she said.
An impression of The Star Brisbane, which will anchor the Queens Wharf entertainment complex.
But inquiries by this masthead into the substance of the report earlier this week prompted a scramble to keep a lid on the full extent of its findings.
Although the government never responded to the inquiries, court documents show that Queensland’s Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation told CTFE on Thursday that this masthead had a copy of the report. The government also provided a copy of the report to CTFE’s lawyers.
Within hours, CTFE took out an emergency injunction in Queensland’s Supreme Court to prevent the story being published, without giving any notice to this masthead. An urgent hearing was held about 8pm and the matter was relisted for hearing on Friday.
On Friday morning – as the parties prepared to reconvene in court – The Star announced to the ASX that the suspension of its Queensland licence would be extended from May to December on the advice of the Attorney-General. This would allow the Queensland government to consider the findings of the second Bell inquiry into The Star in NSW.
Three hours later, the Queensland government announced the same thing.
CTFE’s barrister Rob Anderson, KC, told the court on Friday morning that the PKF report and the affidavits supporting its suppression should be kept secret, arguing they were “confidential and highly sensitive”.
Although the allegations against CTFE and the response were already in the public domain, the details were not, he said, and that was why they were arguing “breach of confidence”.
Justice Peter Applegarth suggested the written submissions would need to detail what material was confidential, and to whom that confidence was owed.
“From a superficial view of the matter, PKF have permitted its client, the Queensland government, to publish the substance of the report and in some little detail. So what remains confidential?” he said.
“There is a perplexing question to whom confidence is owed, by whom it is owed and what parts of the report are to remain confidential. There is then a question of what duty is owed by third parties such as [this masthead]. There might be public interest defences as well that require consideration.”
He extended the injunction to 5pm on May 23, after the next hearing.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s editor Bevan Shields said the newspaper would defend its right to report on the matter.
“We want to tell a story we believe is very much in the public interest, and will be fighting hard to ensure we can bring this important matter to our readers as soon as we can,” Shields said.
Hong Kong-based CTFE is a multibillion-dollar conglomerate owned by the Chengs, one of the wealthiest families in Asia, and operates a lengthy portfolio of jewellery, hotel, transport and casino businesses across the world. In Australia, it owns Alinta Energy and Victoria’s Loy Yang B power station.
It also holds a 25 per cent interest in a joint venture known as the Destination Brisbane Consortium, which holds the licence to build and operate The Star Brisbane casino as part of a $4 billion redevelopment of the Queens Wharf precinct.
The consortium’s original proposal to the Queensland government pledged $272 million in payments and a minimum guarantee of more than $880 million in state gaming taxes over the first 10 years of operation.
Queens Wharf is also expected to employ more than 8000 people upon opening in August and generate more than $1.6 billion in additional state tourism revenue.
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