Heat is on Macau's junket operators ahead of President Xi's visit
Prominent figures in the gambling hub's biggest source of revenue are coming under scrutiny ahead of visit by President Xi
As Beijing's crackdown on corruption continues, top figures in Macau's casino junket sector are coming under scrutiny ahead of a visit to the city later this week by President Xi Jinping.
After a week in which the starkest warnings yet were delivered by senior mainland figures that Macau must move away from its over-reliance on gaming revenues, it has emerged that Hong Kong police have frozen the assets of key casino junket operator Cheung Chi-tai.
Junkets are the businesses that provide VIP customers to casinos and bring in the bulk of their revenue.
Cheung - who was alleged to be a triad member during the money-laundering trial of Carson Yeung Ka-sing, the former owner of soccer club Birmingham City - is wanted for questioning by detectives in Hong Kong investigating offences under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
Cheung has not been charged and could not be contacted for comment.
The investigation is one of a series into gaming and property deals under Xi's "tigers and flies'' anti-corruption drive, which has stretched into the heart of the Communist Party and led to an international effort to snare and bring back graft suspects from overseas.
