Macau billionaire Ng Lap-seng's US case takes new turn with confidential report on his background

The arrest of a Macau real estate mogul with high-level connections to Beijing and Washington has taken a new twist with the publication by a top American university of a "confidential" report on his background.

As billionaire Ng Lap-seng - along with his assistant Jeff Yin - remains in detention in New York after his September 19 arrest on suspicion of bringing US$4.5 million in cash into the United States over the past two years and lying to customs officials about how the money would be used, a secret report detailing his background and myriad connections has come under scrutiny.

Ng, 68, was part of the 100-strong Beijing-appointed committee that oversaw the Macau handover to Chinese rule in December 1999. Some years earlier, Ng was linked to a scandal surrounding Asian funding for then US president Bill Clinton's Democratic Party.

The 52-page report, entitled "Final Report on a Discreet Due Diligence Investigation into Ng Lap Seng in Macau and Hong Kong", was compiled in 2010 on the request of Macau casino operator Las Vegas Sands and completed by International Risk Limited - whose CEO and president at the time was former senior Hong Kong police officer Steve Vickers.

The University of California, Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Programme released the report along with others relating to Las Vegas Sands and its business practices in Macau. The documents, that include internal e-mails and reports, are part of an ongoing legal case.

According to the university, the documents, obtained at a Las Vegas courthouse, have since been sealed.