“The Bergin inquiry and Finkelstein findings,they did reveal a lot of very unattractive governance shortcomings within the casino,” he toldThe Age andSydney Morning Herald in an interview on Thursday.
“But my job is to decide whether there’s an actionable case arising out of breach of directors’ duties that happened eight or nine years ago.
“I’m not going to commence proceedings unless there’s a reasonable prospect of success.”
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Mr Longo said he accepted the “disappointment” fromsome legal experts and the community that former Crown directors would not face personal legal action for breaching their duties to use “care and diligence” after money laundering flourished at Crown and the casino engaged in other illegal or unethical misconduct under their watch.
However,he said ASIC had to consider what non-executive directors knew at the time,adding that those directors had a reasonable expectation to rely on what they were being told by senior management.
NSW’s Bergin inquiry heard in 2020 that some directors were closely involved in decisions or knew about risks that led to disastrous outcomes for Crown,including its relationship with “junket” tour operators and the arrest of 19 staff in China in 2016.