澳洲皇冠度假酒店在華被捕員工獲刑

A Chinese court on Monday jailed 16 current and former employees of Crown Resorts, the Australian casino group controlled by billionaire James Packer, for between nine and 10 months for organising gambling trips for high-rollers.

一家中國法院週一判處澳大利亞皇冠度假酒店集團(Crown Resorts)的16名現僱員和前僱員監禁9至10個月，罪名是他們組織出手闊綽的貴賓客戶出境賭博。這家賭場集團由億萬富翁詹姆斯?帕克(James Packer)控股。

Australian Jason O’Connor, head of Crown’s international VIP operations, and Alfread Gomez, Crown’s Malaysian vice-president of operations in China, both received 10-month sentences, concluding a prosecution that forced Crown to abandon its overseas ambitions and hit revenues at its casinos.

皇冠的國際VIP團隊主管、澳大利亞人賈森?奧康納(Jason O’Connor)，以及皇冠在華業務副總裁、馬來西亞人阿爾弗雷德?戈麥斯(Alfread Gomez)，均被判10個月的刑期，結束了迫使皇冠放棄海外雄心、打擊其賭場營收的公訴。

Nineteen defendants were all convicted of “organising gambling parties”, with 16 receiving jail sentences and fines totalling Rmb8.6m ($1.3m), Crown said in a statement, adding that the company would pay the entire amount. Mr O’Connor was handed the heaviest fine, amounting to Rmb2m.

皇冠在一份聲明中表示，19名被告均被判犯有聚衆賭博罪，其中16人被判有期徒刑，同時共計被罰款860萬元人民幣（合130萬美元），其中奧康納接到200萬元人民幣的最高罰單。該公司將全額承擔罰款。

The case highlighted Crown’s efforts to lure rich gamblers to its resorts in Australia from the Chinese mainland, where gambling is illegal, and hit Crown’s share price, prompting Mr Packer to restructure his business empire.

此案揭示了皇冠從中國內地吸引富裕賭客到其在澳大利亞的度假村的努力，並打擊了皇冠股價，促使帕克重組其商業帝國。在中國，賭博是非法的。

The group’s share price sank 14 per cent in October on the trading day after the arrests of 18 employees by Chinese authorities, and took seven months to recover.

去年10月，在中國當局逮捕該公司18名僱員後的第二個交易日，皇冠股價下跌14%，之後花了7個月時間恢復過來。

Two other Australian staff, Jerry Xuan and Jenny Pan, received sentences of nine months, according to Australian officials, while 12 other former and current Chinese employees received nine- to 10-month sentences, Mr Gomez’s lawyer Zhai Jian told the Financial Times.

據澳大利亞官員介紹，另外兩名澳大利亞籍員工Jerry Xuan和Jenny Pan獲刑9個月。另據戈麥斯的律師翟建告訴英國《金融時報》，12名中國籍的前僱員和現僱員被判9至10個月徒刑。

The charges were bought under prosecution guidelines dating from 2005 specifying that “organising a group of more than 10 people to gamble overseas” was an offence, Mr Zhai said.

翟建表示，本案的罪名是根據2005年出臺的起訴指引提出的。《最高人民法院、最高人民檢察院關於辦理賭博刑事案件具體應用法律若干問題的解釋》規定“組織中華人民共和國公民10人以上赴境外賭博”構成犯罪。

Australia’s consul general in Shanghai, Graeme Meehan, said he had left Chinese authorities “in no doubt about our close interest in the case”, speaking outside the court in the Shanghai district of Baoshan where the hours-long hearing was held.

澳大利亞駐上海總領事梅耕瑞(Graeme Meehan)表示，他向中國當局“明確表示了我方對這一案件的密切興趣”。他是在上海寶山區法院外說這番話的，持續數小時的庭審在這裏的法庭進行。

The defendants, all but three of whom have been held in the grim conditions of a Shanghai detention centre since October, all pleaded guilty, he added. Time already spent in detention is counted as part of the sentence, meaning the jailed staff will be freed within weeks.

他補充說，被告人已全部認罪；除3人外，所有人自去年10月以來一直被羈押在上海某個拘留中心，條件艱苦。由於在押期間算作刑期，被監禁的員工將在幾周後獲釋。

Three of the defendants who had previously been released on bail did not receive jail sentences despite pleading guilty.

之前取保候審的3名被告人雖然認罪，但沒有被判入獄服刑。

“It’s a relatively light sentence, probably because they pled guilty and recognised their crimes,” said Shanghai-based criminal lawyer Si Weijiang.

“這是比較輕的量刑，可能是因爲他們認罪，承認了自己的罪行，”上海刑事律師斯偉江表示。