Melbourne based Crown Casino Resorts fails money laundering probe
Melbourne based Crown Casino Resorts has been reported to
fail the money laundering probe launched by the New South Wales Independent
Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA).
The ILGA had conducted a detailed inquiry in order to
ascertain whether the Crown groups has complied with the anti money laundering
requirements and declared that the group had failed the inquiry.
Crown’s former boss John Alexander had earlier asserted that
the resort has received ‘gold star’ ratings from an independent Anti Money
Laundering Expert. However, the AML expert Neil Jeans stated that he did not
make any comment as to the gold star ratings of the Crown.
Jeans further stated that he had only worked upon
theoretical structure of the AML requirements and had ascertained whether
Crown’s design and structure complies with Australia’s Anti Money Laundering
laws.
According to Jeans, he had found the Crown group’s structure
to be in compliance with the Australia laws and had mentioned the rooms for
improvements. He did not, he stated, make any comment as to the gold star
ratings nor did he review whether the compliance system works in practice.
While Jeans seems to have limited his liability as an
independent expert, an inquiry is now being conducted under former Supreme
Court judge Patricia Bergin in order to determine whether the Crown should be
allowed to retain its license.
This inquiry and its results are directly going to have an
impact on a new venue worth AUS $2.2 billion that is likely to be inaugurated
by the Crown in December this year.
In addition to above allegations, the casino has also been
found to be embroiled in organized crime activities off shore such as links to
drug trafficking, false market releases and advertisements, money laundering
etc.
Gambling Insider reported that the inquiry also confirmed
that senior Crown Resorts executives authorized a junior staff member to wire
$500,000 to a Melbourne drug trafficker after being told that he was a ‘good
friend’ of one of the casino’s junket business partners.
The allegations have also been placed on false
advertisements where the Crown Resorts claimed that its business partner was a
listed and controlled entity of Hong Kong, which turned out to be untrue in the
inquiry.
The probe by the Supreme Court judge has resumed and the
resort has not been able to operate since pandemic lock-down.
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