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Adelson's Sands China says facing Macau probe

Dunya News

Adelson has denied the allegations and describes Jacobs as a disgruntled former employee.

US gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelsons Macau-based subsidiary Sands China said Wednesday it is under investigation over the transfer of data from the Chinese territory to the United States.The Hong Kong-listed company issued a statement to the stock exchange confirming that it was being probed by Macau authorities for allegedly sending information out of the territory without official approval.The statement comes amid allegations in the United States from a former executive that the company approved inappropriate payments to a Macau lawmaker, a possible breach of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.Sands China said its subsidiary, Venetian Macau, had been informed by Macaus Office for Personal Data Protection that it was the subject of an official investigation related to the alleged transfer of certain data.The company is unable to comment further at this time, it added.With personal wealth reported at $25 billion, Adelson has emerged as a major donor to Republican presidential hopefuls, first backing Newt Gingrich and later Mitt Romney.His expansion into Macau has reportedly attracted the attention of US authorities after sacked Sands China executive Steven Jacobs launched a wrongful dismissal suit in a Nevada court.Jacobs has claimed he was told to cover up suspicious payments to a Macau lawmaker who had acted as a legalconsultant to Sands China, and that Adelson had turned a blind eye to prostitution at his lucrative Chinese casinos.Adelson has denied the allegations and describes Jacobs as a disgruntled former employee.Sands China has resisted providing US authorities with documents related to Jacobs employment, citing the stone wall of Macau privacy laws.But ProPublica website earlier this month reported that Sands China had copied information from its offices and sent it to the United States shortly after Jacobs was sacked in mid-2010.The judge hearing Jacobs civil suit has complained in court about the lack of forthrightness with respect to these documents that were taken out of Macau many years ago and which nobodys told me about, ProPublica reported.