Hong Kong Casino Operator Reports $13.4 Million in Cash Missing From Korean Resort

What’s new: Hong Kong-listed casino operator and resort developer Landing International Development Ltd. said in a statement on Tuesday that around 14.56 billion won ($13.4 million) in cash belonging to the company had gone missing in Jeju, South Korea.

The statement said the company was unable to reach the employee responsible for managing the cash and had reported the case to the local police.

The company, which operates Jeju Shinhwa World resort, did not elaborate on details of the incident. The resort is a popular among Chinese visitors to Jeju, an island off the southern tip of South Korea.

Why it matters: The reporting of the incident coincided with Tuesday’s death sentence of Lai Xiaomin (赖小民), the former chairman of one of China’s four largest state-owned bad-debt managers, China Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd. Huarong is a key creditor of Landing International.

The casino operator’s chairman and executive director, Yang Zhihui (仰智慧), had been close to Lai in his business dealings. Yang disappeared in August 2018, four months after Lai was placed under investigation by the Chinese Communist Party for “serious violations of party discipline and law.”

In late November of that year, Yang reemerged and resumed his duties at the company. Landing International later said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse that Yang had been assisting authorities with their investigations during his period of absence.

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Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)

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