Failures to manage risk,due diligence and supervision of the lucrative VIP “junket” business stretched to the top of the organisation,including former chief executive officer Matt Bekier,the inquiry heard.
Counsel assisting the inquiry Naomi Sharp,SC,suggested Star’s willingness to could amount to a criminal offence of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
In her final remarks on Friday,Sharp said the slew of executive resignations triggered by the public review of Star’s suitability to hold a casino licence could not turn things around.
She has told Adam Bell,SC,who is overseeing the inquiry,Star showed a “disdain for the casino regulator”,and was
“Merely parting company with a number of senior executives and embarking on a program of board renewal is not enough to change the culture of the organisation,” Sharp said.
“We submit something has gone very seriously wrong within the culture of the senior ranks of Star Entertainment and of course The Star itself.”
The long-running inquiry was prompted by revelations by The Sydney MorningHerald,The Age and 60 Minutes of
Over eight weeks it has heard evidence from Star’s most senior executives and directors,who were tested on allegations of misleading conduct,a failure to manage anti-money laundering risks and turning a blind eye to criminal links of VIP junkets.
The inquiry has heard evidence Star gambling transactions as hotel expenses and then lied to banks in an attempt to conceal the massive fraud.
It has also heard Star knowingly let more than 1300 VIP guests use China Union Pay cards in almost 2000 transactions from 2013 to March 2020,despite the practice being prohibited.
Allegations Star major “junket” VIP tour partners and disregarded anti-money laundering procedures to avoid China’s strict capital flight and anti-gambling laws have also been probed by the inquiry.
Among prominent high-rollers to feature during the review was billionaire property developer Phillip Dong Fang Lee,who swiped more than $22 million on his CUP card in two days in 2015,breaching Star’s own policies.
Sharp argued that Star had repeatedly breached the Casino Control Act and that its preparedness to use fake documents to mislead banks about its use of CUP cards could constitute a crime.
“... There is a serious question about whether a criminal offence has been committed ...[by] obtaining a financial advantage by deception,” she said.
All directors who have fronted the inquiry,including the for which the board must accept responsibility.
O’Neill told the inquiry there was “no straightforward answer” for why things went wrong,conceding,“bad habits went undetected”.
Sharp said all directors gave evidence of feeling let down by management,“and they were let down by management”.
However,she raised concerns about the way the board reacted to media allegations about unchecked money-laundering risks and criminal infiltration and said evidence established there had been selective briefing of investors to manage the fall-out.
Sharp said the inquiry had heard a spectrum of views from directors,including Sally Pitkin,who said competitive threats posed by Crown Resorts meant “voices in the VIP business were the loudest”,and those in compliance and legal were either silenced,ignored or were complicit.
“Where there were tensions between competing objectives,profit won out,” she said.
The inquiry will resume on June 14 for Star’s response to the submissions.
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