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After months of hearings, characterised by spectacular admissions including threats of violence, the report of the Bergin Inquiry into the probity of Crown Sydney Gaming, a subsidiary of Crown Resorts Limited, has been tabled in the NSW parliament.
15 hours ago James Packer's Crown Resorts not suitable to operate Sydney casino, inquiry finds 9 Feb, 2021 04:27 AM 4 minutes to read Shares in Crown have been placed in a trading halt.
James Packer's Crown Resorts casino firm faces probe. And is 37%-owned by Australian tycoon James Packer. The New South Wales gaming authority is probing 'the vulnerability of junkets to. James Packer needs to fire CEO Kenneth Barton to save his $2.2billion Crown Casino after a bombshell report found it's unfit to be given a gaming license, an inquiry commissioner has found. James Packer’s deal to step back from Crown Casino abandoned as coronavirus stifles business The deal had been viewed as a saving grace for a struggling billionaire but it has become the latest. James Packer's mum Roslyn says her son is in a 'much better place' after mental health battles - as he inspects his $2.4B casino alongside girlfriend Kylie Lim and reveals it will open early.
Crown Resorts runs the Crown casinos in Melbourne and Perth.
The Inquiry found that Crown Sydney Gaming was “not a suitable person” to operate the Sydney casino.
It also found the parent, Crown Resorts Limited, was “not suitable to be a close associate of the licensee”.
The serious corporate failures relate to
- Crown’s operations in China and the arrests of the employees in October 2016 with “numerous failures to escalate indicators of real risks to the staff”
- the infiltration and exploitation of Crown’s Melbourne and Perth operations by “criminal elements, probably including international criminal organisations”
- the probability of money laundering in the accounts of two Crown subsidiaries “and in the casino premises with hundreds of thousands of dollars brought into the casino in cooler bags and shopping bags and exchanged for chips and plaques” Coin master free spins 1 coin master.
- Crown’s failures to ensure it only had commercial associations with Junket operators of good repute
Other matters relate to “the structures in place that have contributed to the corporate failures” including:
- the existence and operation of a Controlling Shareholder Protocol
- Crown’s relationship with James Packer and his company Consolidated Press Holdings
- Crown’s risk management structures and their resourcing.
The report says it is clear each director understood as at 2019 that Crown had given an undertaking to the NSW Government and the Authority that it would not allow the late organised crime figure Stanley Ho to acquire a direct, indirect or beneficial interest in Crown.
Undertakings not honoured
Yet it found the late Mr Ho’s associated entity had an interest inMelco Resorts & Entertainment to whom Packer agreed to sell his company’s Crown shareholding and “thereby obtained an indirect interest in Crown”.
Speaking ahead of the tabling of the report, NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said that at the heart of the inquiry was concern over organised crime, money laundering, and gambling.
Commissioner Bergin also recommended that a new Independent Casino Commission with the powers of a standing Royal Commission be given sole authority over licensing and disciplinary issues.
Tabling the report in parliament, and invoking parliamentary privilege, is reportedly intended to circumvent the possibility of defamation action by directors and executives of Crown arising from the report.
No confidence in directors
Commissioner Bergin concluded the Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority
would be justified in concluding that it cannot have any confidence in dealing with Mr Barton as a director of the Licensee or Crown
Ken Barton is the chief executive of Crown Resorts Limited.
Another director, Michael Johnston,
should not have been involved in any managerial role with Crown nor on any board Committees particularly relating to corporate governance or risk management
He should “conclude his tour of duty as soon as possible”.
In regards to another director, former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, the report found
The Authority would be justified in lacking confidence in placing reliance upon Mr Demetriou in the future
It concluded that
in the circumstances of the findings against Mr Barton, Mr Johnston and Mr Demetriou, the Authority would be justified in entertaining very serious doubts that Crown could be converted into a suitable person under the Casino Control Act whilst they remain as directors
Another director, Harold Mitchell, should
further reflect on the need to refresh the Crown board and take steps to expedite that process
Remote management by Packer
The report describes a confused culture within Crown, with some directors and executives more loyal to Mr Packer, who is no longer a director, than the company itself.
The stewardship of long-time Packer associate John Alexander, chairman and chief executive between February 2017 and January 2020, led “to disastrous consequences”.
This included processes that exposed its directors to conflicts of interest and remote management by Mr Packer and a failure to protect Crown’s casino licensees from the infiltration of criminal elements through, at the very least, its lack of robust junket approval processes and a lack of proper oversight and monitoring of risks to money laundering in its subsidiaries’ bank accounts.
Bergin suggests the NSW Casino Control Act be amended to prevent any person from holding more than 10% of any licensee or holding company.
The Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority will consider the report and determine its own path forward.
It’s hard to see how Crown, as currently structured, can open the Sydney casino in the near future.
Read more: If Crown is unfit to hold a Sydney casino licence, what about Melbourne, and Perth?
Although the Sydney Barangaroo building is complete, gambling facilities have not been permitted to open.
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The report raises obvious questions for the Victorian and Western Australian regulators.
To date there has been little to suggest that Victoria’s Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has the wherewithal to take on Crown.
That has to change. As Greens spokesperson on gambling Senator Rachel Siewert said on reading the report, “we need to know what’s going on in Perth and Melbourne”.
Casino giant Crown Resorts is not fit to run its $2.2 billion Sydney casino because it facilitated money laundering and has other ‘deep’ problems, a highly anticipated report has found.
Commissioner Patricia Bergin has recommended a number of dramatic changes that Crown would have to make before it could run the casino.
Win real money no deposit required. In Ms Bergin’s report to the NSW gaming authority, published on Tuesday afternoon, she finds that Crown subsidiaries were used to launder money and that the company’s conduct facilitated money laundering for at least five years.
Billionaire James Packer was able to manoeuvre the company’s operations from afar, despite no longer being on the board, Ms Bergin says.
An inquiry has found Crown resorts unfit to run its new $2.2billion crown casino in Sydney (pictured under construction in March)
Commissioner Patricia Bergin has recommended a number of dramatic changes that Crown would have to make before it could run the casino (pictured: an artist’s impression of the casino)
Though well-intentioned, his actions had ‘rather disastrous consequences’ for the company.
Ms Bergin has left it to the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority to decide exactly what changes Crown needs to make before gaming could begin at the Barangaroo casino.
But she makes a swag of recommendations, including a forensic probe to make sure all money-laundering in Crown accounts has been uncovered.
While chief executive Ken Barton, former AFL chief Andrew Demetriou and Michael Johnston remain on the board the regulator should have ‘very serious doubts’ that Crown could be suitable to run the casino, Ms Bergin says.
Crown should have to disclose any agreement to share confidential information with Mr Packer as well, she says.
Ms Bergin also says a new Independent Casino Commission should be set up with the powers of a royal commission to address the risks in casinos and gambling.
Ms Bergin said billionaire James Packer (pictured with his girlfriend Kylie Lim) was able to manoeuvre the company’s operations from afar, despite no longer being on the board, which had ‘ rather disastrous consequences’ for the company
Shares in Crown Resorts earlier entered a trading halt as the casino giant braced for the report, which runs to more than 600 pages.
The report’s publication is the culmination of an extraordinary probe that has laid bare the governance problems at one of the country’s most high-profile companies.
The Liquor and Gaming Authority said a link to the report would be posted on the NSW parliament’s website.
The authority commissioned Ms Bergin to make findings and recommendations on Crown’s suitability to hold a casino licence in August 2019 after a series of media reports raised concerns about the company’s business dealings.
During the inquiry, Crown admitted it was more likely than not that money had been laundered through its bank accounts.
The company was accused by lawyers in the inquiry, and earlier in media reports, of turning a blind eye to money laundering.
Evidence was also aired of the company’s links with organised crime figures and a high-risk, profit-driven culture.
The inquiry previously heard Mr Packer (pictured) has been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, which he said contributed to ‘shameful’ and ‘disgraceful’ conduct on his behalf
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The inquiry shone a spotlight on billionaire James Packer, a figure who has long been subject to fascination, scrutiny and gossip.
While giving evidence, Mr Packer revealed he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, an illness that saw him step down from Crown’s board twice.
The troubled heir owned up to ‘shameful’ and ‘disgraceful’ conduct, which he blamed on his poor mental health.
Counsel assisting the inquiry argued that Ms Bergin should find that neither Crown nor Mr Packer were suitable to be close associates of the casino.
If Ms Bergin does find Crown’s problems mean it should not run the casino, she must make recommendations for what changes, if any, can render it suitable.
One suggestion already came from Mr Packer, who admitted that Ms Bergin might consider caps on shareholding and therefore force him to part with his shares in Crown. He owns 36.8 per cent of the company.
Another issue was the independence of the board, which includes a number of Packer family associates.
In her findings, Ms Bergin said the company should not operate the casino because it facilitated money laundering and has other ‘deep’ problems (artist’s impression)
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Ms Bergin made a raft of recommendations, including a forensic probe to make sure all money-laundering in Crown accounts has been uncovered (artist’s impression pictured)
Crown appointed a new director, Nigel Morrison, to the board last month. The company’s media release described the appointment as ‘part of a process of board renewal’.
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In November, Crown was instructed by gaming regulators to delay the opening of its new casino in Sydney due to ‘extremely concerning’ evidence tendered at at the inquiry.
At the time, Chairman Phillip Crawford said evidence at the inquiry regarding money laundering was too serious to allow the casino to open its gaming services pending the findings.
The new flagship Barangaroo facility had been scheduled to open on December 14, and the company declined to open its non-gaming operations – the hotel, restaurants and bars – at that time and the casino later.
However, the Crown weeks later decided to open its non-gaming facilities at the end of December after the company was granted an interim liquor licence from the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority.
The Crown Towers in Bangaroo (pictured) was scheduled to open its gaming operations on December 14