Stanley Ho’s nephew goes on trial over vice ring
Trial of suspects allegedly involved in prostitution ring has begun on Friday. Alan Ho’s lawyer said his client was innocent
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 10 January, 2016, 2:05am
UPDATED : Sunday, 10 January, 2016, 2:05am
Raquel Carvalho
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lan Ho (centre) is escorted to Macau's Procuratorate by police
A year after his high-profile arrest in on suspicion of running a casino-linked prostitution racket, the trial of Alan Ho – the nephew of gaming kingpin Stanley Ho Hung-sun – has opened at the Court of First Instance in Macau.
Ho, 65,executive director of the Hotel Lisboa , and five of of his co-accused appeared in the Court of First Instance on Friday.
He denies the charges against him and exercised his right to remain silent during the opening of proceedings. His lawyer, Jorge Neto Valente, said his client was innocent and was never involved in a criminal organisation exploiting prostitutes.
A syndicate was busted exactly a year ago at the hotel where police detained 96 suspected prostitutes and arrested six others people. Ho is accused of founding and leading a criminal organisation, and in addition face 90 charges of sexual exploitation.
The alleged ring was suspected to have controlled 100 rooms in the Hotel Lisboa since 2013. According to Macau police, it was making a profit of 400 million patacas a year.
On Friday, the highly respected Valente said in court that Ho had simply made accommodation contracts in the hotel with women who engaged in prostitution, and that he could not be held accountable for others’ actions, Radio Macau reported.
Pimping carries up to eight years in jail, although prostitution is not illegal in Macau. To promote or establish a criminal organisation may result in five to 12 years in prison, whereas leaders of such organisations might be punished with eight to 15 years imprisonment.
Under Macau law, the most serious crime is the one that counts to define a defendant’s final sentence. To that, an “aggravation” might be added.
Ho’s lawyer also cited wire-tap evidence in which a former deputy manager of the hotel allegedly expressed fears that Ho could eventually find out what was going on the hotel property.
Valente declined to comment on the content of the trial, but he criticised the time authorities took to investigate the case. Charges were only laid some eight months after the suspects were arrested. Ho and his co-defendants spent a year on remand awaiting trial.
“It was said at the time of their arrest that a long investigation had already been conducted, so it is not understandable that they took some eight months to conclude the investigation, and formally charge them. It’s a very unfortunate situation,” Valente said.
In court on Friday, one of the defendants, Bruce Mak, former security chief of the Lisboa, denied any involvement in the scheme used by the hotel to manage the entry and exit of women, who provided sexual services and who were nicknamed by the staff as YSL – “young single ladies”.
Mak acknowledged the existence of a special “check-in” counter for prostitutes who exclusively occupied the fifth and sixth floors of the hotel. He said such activities had been widely known by the community for several years.
Another defendant, Qiao Yan Yan, assistant deputy manager of the Lisboa, said Ho and two other defendants – Peter Lun, former operations manager, and Kelly Wang, former deputy manager of the hotel – were in charge of choosing the women who were placed on the fifth and sixth floors.
She said it was part of her duties to ensure prostitutes complied with hotel rules, such as not approaching clients or circulating repeatedly in the hallways.
She added that before being hired as assistant deputy manager, she had attended the hotel to provide sexual services.
The other four defendants remained silent. Ho’s lawyer had requested a closed-door trial, but it was rejected.
The trial will continue on Friday.
