\nOleg Drozdov facing allegations of US$11 mln \u2018malpractice\u2019 in unrelated solid waste scheme
\n\tSummit Ascent Holdings Ltd \u2013 a company said in filings to be controlled by Macau casino developer Lawrence Ho Yau Lung \u2013 has confirmed to the Hong Kong bourse that an indirect partner in a Russian casino project has been arrested by police in that country.
\n\tA Russian newspaper, Kommersant, reported on November 7 that Oleg Drozdov had been detained for investigation by Russian law enforcement. It\u2019s reportedly regarding alleged malpractices by a business called OOO Vladivostokservis and relates to the construction of a solid waste treatment facility in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
\n\tThe investigation relates to events in 2009 and 2010 and is said to involve 367 million roubles (US$11.2 million, or 89.72 million patacas). The company OOO Vladivostokservis was reported to have been the general contractor on the waste treatment facility and Mr Drozdov served a director of the firm at the relevant time.
\n\tSummit Ascent stated in yesterday\u2019s filing: \u201cManagement of the company has since spoken to Mr Sergey I Bondar, attorney advocate acting for Mr Drozdov, who has confirmed that Mr Drozdov has been detained for questioning by the Russian law enforcement authorities.\u201d
\n\tIn earlier filings Summit Ascent said it was paying US$9.02 million for 46 percent of an entity called Oriental Regent Ltd. The latter is a holding company that currently owns 50 percent of First Gambling Company of the Far East LLC. First Gambling in turn has a gaming licence in Primorye, the Russian Far East province of which Vladivostok is the capital.
\n\tPrevious filings also said that Lawrence Ho\u2019s primary investment vehicle Melco International Development Ltd \u2013 which also holds a stake in Macau casino developer Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd \u2013 would pay US$980,392 for a five percent stake in Oriental Regent.
\n\tMr Drozdov is an indirect minority shareholder in Oriental Regent. He controls 30 percent of it via Elegant City Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company that is in turn wholly owned by Mr Drozdov.<\/p>\n
\tNo impact<\/p>\n
\tSummit Ascent stressed yesterday that the investigation into Mr Drozdov \u201cdoes not relate, in any way, to the Primorye gaming project or to Oriental Regent or FGCE [First Gambling Company of the Far East]\u201d. Summit Ascent added the investigation was in progress and no charges had so far been made against Mr Drozdov.
\n\tIt stated: \u201cThe company has also received direct assurances from Mr Sidorov, first vice governor of the Primorsky Administration, which administers the Gambling Zone of the Primorye Region, that the investigation and allegations relating to Mr Drozdov will not, in any way, affect the Primorye Gaming Project or the company\u2019s investment in the Primorye Gaming Zone.\u201d
\n\tThe estimated total investment for the first phase of the casino resort complex to be constructed at an \u2018Integrated Entertainment Zone\u2019 in Primorye \u2013 next door to China\u2019s northeastern Heilongjiang province \u2013 is about US$130 million according to earlier filings.
\n\tIt will have a 119-room hotel, approximately 800 slot machines, 25 VIP gaming tables and 40 mass-market gaming tables, according to the previous statements.
\n\tBusiness Daily asked Melco International for a comment but got no response by press time.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oleg Drozdov facing allegations of US$11 mln \u2018malpractice\u2019 in unrelated solid waste scheme Summit Ascent Holdings Ltd \u2013 a company said in filings to be controlled by Macau casino developer Lawrence Ho Yau Lung \u2013 has confirmed to the Hong…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}