DRUGS ACCUSED 'PLACED $28.6M IN CASINO BETS'

A Leichhardt man charged on Wednesday over a multi-million-dollar heroin
trafficking ring bet more than $28.6 million at the old Sydney Harbour
Casino, State Parliament was told yesterday.

The claim came as the Minister for Gaming, Mr Face, said he was concerned
for his own safety "and those close to me".

This followed information being given to the Opposition by a former casino
worker, Mr Mark Wells, about the number of high rollers at the casino
linked with the drug trade and illegal gambling.

In Parliament, Mr Face told the Opposition: "I might say to you here and
now that I am very concerned about my own safety and those close to me as a
consequence of what is occurring between you and Mr Wells. And I can tell
you what: If I'm affected, or my family are, then I will hold you
responsible."

The Opposition named an unemployed storeman, Tan Gia Quach, of James
Street, Leichhardt, as the fourth biggest high roller at the casino in a
six-month period in 1996.

On Wednesday he was bailed after being charged with possessing $780,720 in
cash at the James Street premises after police allegedly seized heroin
valued at $6 million on the Hume Highway near Goulburn the previous day.

He was the third man charged with drug or gambling offences to be named in
three days from a list of 11 high rollers who spent $402 million at the
casino's Endeavour Room in the second half of 1996.

Mr Face refused to answer questions about Quach, saying he would not answer
questions about continuing criminal investigations. He then spoke of his
fears for his safety.

"You [the Opposition] might go back to Mr Wells and get some better
information than you've had in the past ... I am concerned about the way
I've had three phone calls to this place today saying Wells is obsessed
with me."

However, Mr Wells, a former director of player development at the Star City
casino, said he had never met Mr Face and bore him no ill-will.

"If he fears for his life, it may be because he knows that his Government
and the casino have allowed people who should not have been inside the
casino to gamble millions, and now the minister is being called to account
for why this has been allowed to happen."

The Opposition spokesman on gaming, Mr Robert Oakeshott, outside Parliament
accused Mr Face of "playing the man and not the ball", adding that Mr Wells
was only one of many people who were coming forward on the issue of money
laundering because of "continuous and secretive" cover-ups.

"This is bigger than one disgruntled individual," Mr Oakeshott said.

"That's why I am disappointed that the minister singled him out alone. Mr
Face has been the minister for five years. He's had the opportunity to act
before, [and] now he is trying to blame someone else for his own failings
as a minister."