A Hong Kong triad boss and heroin baron has been exposed as the mastermind of a card-dealing scam that fleeced Australia's biggest casino out of more than HK$8 million.
However, gangster Tong Ko-kon - jailed in Australia in 2001 for his part in a heroin ring - escaped further punishment as the croupier he recruited refused to give evidence against him.
The failure to convince Tiffany Moss, a dealer at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, to testify against Tong at her Australian fraud trial last week has demonstrated the power the gangster apparently still wields from inside his maximum-security prison cell.
Moss, 32, was sentenced to 15 months' jail on February 5 for her role in one of the most complex scams in the casino industry.
But police were unable to convict Tong, a female accomplice and another man who acted as the middleman between the croupier and Tong because of a lack of evidence, despite extensive video and audio surveillance.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Crime Commission yesterday was unable to expand on the investigation into Tong's powerful Luen Ying She triad society. She was also unable to comment on the hunt for Tong's wife, Jenny Tsui Shuk-fan, a former Miss Hong Kong contestant, who is believed to be hiding in the special administrative region.
Hong Kong police are investigating transactions of millions of dollars through Hong Kong banks allegedly linked to her.