James Packer not (yet) called to give evidence at WA royal commission
James Packer has not been called to give evidence at the royal commission in Western Australia that is digging into evidence Crown Resorts facilitated money laundering at its Perth casino.
The probe, along with a separate royal commission in
Victoria, comes after a NSW gaming regulator inquiry concluded evidence showed
the company turned a blind eye to money laundering at its Perth and Melbourne
venues and it partnered with Asian junket tour operators with links to
organised crime.
At the second hearing in WA on Tuesday, which was purely
administrative, applications for leave to appear were granted for Crown chair
Helen Coonan, non-executive director Jane Halton – who both came out of the NSW
inquiry relatively unscathed – and former independent director John Horvath.
At the company’s annual general meeting in October, many
votes were lodged against the re-election of Professor Horvath – previously a
personal physician to Mr Packer’s late father Kerry Packer and a chief medical
officer of Australia.
But he was saved by the backing of the reclusive
billionaire’s private firm Consolidated Press Holdings, which holds the biggest
stake in Crown of 37 per cent.
There was no application for Mr Packer to appear at the
Perth royal commission, but that could change.
When he gave evidence over two days at the NSW probe – via
video link from a luxury yacht – it emerged he had been heavily medicated for
bipolar disorder, and he claimed he did not recall in response to many
questions.
Commissioner Patricia Bergin found his enduring influence
over Crown – despite quitting the board in 2018 – had had “disastrous
consequences for the company”.
She heard he had been the driving force behind the push to
secure more of the Asian high-roller market at the centre of the scandal, with
one of the most dire consequences of that aggressive marketing being the 2016
arrest of Crown staffers in China, where gambling on the mainland is illegal.
He also got special treatment, with briefings on an almost
daily basis under a “controlling shareholder protocol”.
But that has since been torn up, and the NSW Independent
Liquor & Gaming Authority has sought to formally block any influence he may
still have over Crown, getting him to agree to multiple undertakings that are
expected to be recorded in an enforceable legal document.
The regulator has not sought to compel Mr Packer to sell his
stake, but he has two potential avenues for that: a takeover bid by Blackstone
and a $3bn offer by another private equity giant, Oaktree Capital Management,
to help Crown Resorts buy him out.
The board has not yet issued a view on either proposal.
Mr Packer has in recent years been retreating from public
business life. He has engaged investment bank Moelis Australia to advise him on
Blackstone’s offer, and his complete exit from Crown is widely seen as a big
way the company can redeem itself.
ILGA ultimately found Crown was not suitable to hold a
gaming licence for its new $2.2bn Barangaroo casino in Sydney, and the Perth
and Melbourne licences are also at risk.
However, the company has been trying to restore confidence
in its ability to operate casinos in accordance with anti-money laundering laws
by changing its board, which has largely been gutted.
One of the new appointees, the former chief executive of
rival SkyCity Entertainment Group, Nigel Morrison, will also give evidence at
the WA royal commission, which is not just looking into Crown’s suitability to
hold a gaming licence but also the regulatory framework.
To that end, former WA Department of Local Government, Sport
and Cultural Industries deputy director general Michael Connolly, who stepped
aside after it emerged he had regular fishing trips with Crown staff, will also
appear but is “limited to regulatory framework issues”.
The department’s director general Duncan Ord has previously
said Mr Connolly had declared the long-term friendships and that he stood aside
merely to avoid any “perception of a conflict of interest”.
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