New reports say the company has yet to fix money laundering risks and presence of alleged criminals

Australia: Victorian minister for gambling orders probe into Crown crime allegations

“I’ve asked the regulator to re-examine the allegations raised as a matter of priority and report back to me as soon as possible," said Victoria’s minister for gambling, Marlene Kairouz.
2019-08-01
Reading time 3:55 min
The Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Marlene Kairouz, will also conduct a review of the regulation of junket operators who bring high rollers from China. The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) made 20 recommendations to clean up the casino, nine of which were to be in place by 1 July this year. Full-page advertisements signed by Crown's board of directors calle Nine's coverage as "a deceitful campaign against Crown".

Victoria’s minister for gambling, Marlene Kairouz, says she has ordered the state’s casino regulator to conduct a snap investigation into a flood of allegations made against Crown Resorts and its Melbourne operation that include claims of links to organized crime and that its high rollers got waved through immigration without proper checks. Kairouz said her department would also review the regulation of junket operators who bring high rollers from China, some of whom have been linked by Nine to Triad gangs.

The move follows the federal attorney-general Christian Porter’s decision on Tuesday to refer allegations about the potential corruption of law enforcement officers to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. It also follows the revelation on Wednesday night that the powerful but secretive Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is investigating casino junkets as part of an investigation that has been on foot since September 2013.

“The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation will cooperate fully with any investigation,” Kairouz said, The Guardian reported. “I’ve asked the regulator to re-examine the allegations raised as a matter of priority and report back to me as soon as possible. I’ve also asked the department, with the assistance of the commission, to examine the regulatory arrangements of junket operators.

She said anyone with information should come forward to authorities. Crown has been under siege since Saturday, when Nine began publishing reports in its newspapers and on its flagship television current affairs program 60 Minutes linking the casino company to triads and money laundering through its junkets.

Nine has also claimed the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s cousin and the controversial businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo were Crown high rollers, and alleged an Australian Border Force officer moonlighted for a Crown junket operator who is wanted by Interpol and operated an illegal hunting operation in country Victoria.

On Tuesday, the independent MP Andrew Wilkie used parliamentary privilege to air claims by a former driver for Crown that there were “no Border Force checks” when high rollers were brought into Australia on the casino’s private jets. Wilkie also detailed allegations of rampant illegal drug use and violence against women at the casino, telling parliament the whistleblower became numb to the sight of “women being degraded, women being abused, women slapped around”.

Furthermore, The Guardian Australia revealed on Thursday that Crown had yet to satisfy the Victorian gambling regulator it has fixed nine serious problems at its flagship Melbourne casino, including money laundering risks and the presence of alleged criminals, which were supposed to be solved a month ago. 

In a review of the casino licence released last year the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) made 20 recommendations to clean up the casino, nine of which were to be in place by 1 July this year. “The Commission continues to undertake a thorough and rigorous assessment of the submissions made by Crown in respect to the recommendations and the outcomes will be reported back to government,” the VCGLR Chief Executive, Catherine Myers, said.

These included requirements that Crown upgrade its risk management systems, use facial recognition systems at all casino entrances, undertake a “robust review” to address its money laundering risks and implement a policy to keep people charged with serious offences out of the premises.

The ACIC believes casino junkets present a significant risk of money laundering, partly because they operate as a shadow banking system, enabling money to move around the world and hide criminal wealth, according to reports by the same newspaper and Nine. The commission also believes factors including the lack of transparency of junket operations and the anonymity of participants in them provide opportunities for criminal exploitation.

It also says the money laundering risk is made worse because the casino’s customers are the junket operators, rather than individual gamblers. This means that casinos are conducting important anti-money laundering “know your customer” checks not on gamblers but only on junket operators who may be difficult to fully profile because they are from overseas.

Crown has consistently denied any wrongdoing and hit back on Thursday with full-page advertisements signed by its board of directors slamming Nine’s coverage as “a deceitful campaign against Crown”. In a point-by-point response, Nine said its work was “carefully sourced” and Crown had refused to answer 63 questions put to it.

Headed "setting the record straight in the face of a deceitful campaign against Crown", the Crown advertisement accuses Nine of unfairly attempting to damage its reputation. "As a board, we are extremely concerned for our staff, shareholders and other stakeholders, as much of this unbalanced and sensationalised reporting is based on unsubstantiated allegations, exaggerations, unsupported connections and outright falsehoods," the advertisement says.

"As an ASX listed company and a Board we are always striving to ensure we have the highest levels of governance and a commitment to the highest standards,” it adds. “It is deeply disappointing that the media involved in these inflammatory stories have not upheld the same principles."

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