A court in the Philippines has issued arrest warrants for three individuals wanted in connection with a casino scam earlier this year. The scam, which was reportedly the brainchild of Singaporean businessman Loo Choon Beng (“Fatty Loo”), saw three Pagcor casinos lose a total of $3.77million back in May. Late last month reports that Fatty Loo had died surfaced and it has still not been confirmed whether this was true or not.
The three accused were named in court as Kitman Chang, Chian Keok Hwa and Qian Ghua Zheng. It’s though that they skipped the country after being handed bail on May 24th and given their passports.
An earlier hearing had criticized authorities for allowing the three foreign nationals to effectively get away with stealing millions of dollars from the state. Fatty Loo wasn’t included in the new warrants list and that may mean that the Filipino authorities have documentation confirming that his death was legitimate.
To say that the case has been bungled so far would be an understatement. Pagcor asked that the charge of syndicated fraud be heard as those accused cannot be bailed. After the request was ignored the trial was downgraded to a lesser charge of fraud and now the government has a situation where three foreign nationals basically stole money from the part of the state.
Footage from the three casino business locations shows that the men cheated at baccarat by hiding micro-cameras in sleeves and using microphones. Ever since the scam was carried Pagcor has been investigating members of staff that may have colluded with the scam artists.