NSW steps back into the pressure James Packer

A pressure cooker fortnight for one of Australia's most secretive public companies and its reclusive major shareholder gets under way on Wednesday as Crown Resorts legal counsel Mary Manos is scheduled to appear as a witness before a NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry, to be followed by chief executive Ken Barton.

Crown board member Michael Johnstone, who is the finance director at James Packer's private company Consolidated Press Holdings, is also set to appear this week at the inquiry into the company's suitability to hold a gaming licence for the soon-to-be-completed Barangaroo casino on Sydney's waterfront.

Next week, major shareholder Mr Packer is scheduled to appear along with Guy Jalland, his close confidante and chief executive at CPH, and John Alexander, Crown's former executive chairman who remains on the board.

Over two-and-a-half weeks Crown's directors and management are to be questioned and cross-questioned by the authority as it picks apart the company's inner workings and conversations about a controversial strategy to attract "high rollers" to its casinos.

A final report is expected by February 2021.

The inquiry has called  15 witnesses, mostly members of Crown's board of directors, to answer questions about the gaming giant's connection to organised crime.

However, the immediate future of the $2.4 billion facility – set to complete construction and open in December, well before the inquiry reports – looks secure.

A spokesman for NSW Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said he would not take any action on the casino before the inquiry was complete.

"Crown Resorts has a valid licence to operate a Restricted Gaming Facility at its Barangaroo site," a spokesman for the minister said. "The minister does not intend to pre-empt the outcomes of the Bergin Inquiry nor the regulatory changes which it might give rise to."

The biggest drama at the hearings is likely to surround Mr Packer's appearance. Mr Packer, whose decision to offload most of his 35 per cent stake in Crown to Macau casino group Melco Resorts sparked the inquiry, will take the witness stand next week. His crucial lieutenants will give evidence beforehand.

While Mr Packer has since abandoned the sale to Melco, the inquiry – led by former Supreme Court justice Patricia Bergin SC as commissioner – has re-focused attention on Crown's organised crime links.