Mogul ditches casino for hotel plan

No bail in Big Brother case

A MAN accused of trying to murder a former Big Brother contestant on the Gold Coast has been denied bail.

Anthony Soong, 23, allegedly shot Sam Wallace in the leg in the carpark of a Merrimac restaurant in December last year.

Justice Martin Burns denied Soong’s bail application in the Supreme Court in Brisbane yesterday, insisting he was too great a flight risk.

Police claim Soong drove into the carpark with a 19year-old woman before getting out of the vehicle and opening fire on Wallace, who was in the passenger seat of a nearby car.

Wallace appeared on Big Brother in 2012, where he hooked up with fellow Coast contestant Layla Subritzky. HONG Kong tycoon Tony Fung has formally ended his six-year bid to build an $8 billion integrated casino resort in Cairns.

The Aquis Great Barrier Reef boss said he was now pushing ahead with plans to develop a luxury hotel, apartment and villa complex at the Yorkeys Knob site, at an estimated $2 billion.

Mr Fung (pictured) said he was in “positive” negotiations with the State Government and the Cairns Regional Council for land development approvals, was no longer applying for a casino licence, and had withdrawn from the Integrated Resort Development process.

His decision spells the end of the $8.15 billion Aquis casino resort project touted to transform Cairns, attract a million visitors a year, pump billions into the economy and deliver thousands of jobs.

The billionaire, who on Thursday signed one of the NRL’s most lucrative five-year sponsorship deals with the Gold Coast Titans, said his decision stemmed from the “nosedive” in the global casino industry.