Vic Crown inquiry to probe China arrests
The Victorian royal commission into gaming giant Crown's Melbourne operations is slated to open public hearings by examining the arrests of staff in China.
The $10 million inquiry, being chaired by former Federal
Court judge Raymond Finkelstein QC, has outlined topics it plans to cover as
part of the first week of public hearings from Monday.
It will focus on Victoria's gambling regulator's monitoring
of Crown, including its investigation into the 2016 arrests of 19 staff across
four Chinese cities.
All were later charged with gambling promotion offences, and
the arrests remain the subject an ongoing class action against Crown.
Crown's junket operations will also be examined after the
Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation last month fined the
Southbank casino a record $1 million over vetting failures.
In 2019 media reports, it was alleged that Crown junket
operators brought in high-rolling gamblers from China with links to organised
crime.
The revelations led to the establishment of the Bergin
inquiry in NSW, which in February found Crown unfit to run a casino at its
newly built Barangaroo complex in Sydney.
The long-running NSW inquiry also found the company
facilitated money laundering at its Melbourne and Perth casinos, and put staff
in China in danger of being detained.
Royal commissions are also under way into Crown's casino
licences in Melbourne and Perth, while the federal financial crimes watchdog is
undertaking an inquiry into casino junket tours.
Written submissions to the Victorian royal commission closed
on April 26 and Mr Finkelstein has been given until August 1 to report back to
the government with recommendations.
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