Inquiry into Crown Resorts

At the start of the final week of hearings for the Victoria and Alberta Commission investigating the work of the Crown, commissioner Ray Finkelstein said he had received so much material for his investigation that he didn't know where to begin. "I see evidence of illegal or unacceptable behaviour by people in the highest, lowest and most arbitrary positions," he said at the opening hearing of the week. "Everywhere you look, you see illegal behavior, inappropriate behavior, unacceptable behavior, not just basic bad behavior.

It's unlikely that Finkelstein will attend the ensuing hearing.

The list of offenses is extensive, ranging from the illegal application of a dedication scheme to possible tax evasion and issuing false invoices to employees to illegally purchase casino chips in possible money laundering.

The impetus for the investigation was the findings of Bergin's investigation into Crown's alleged involvement in illegal tour operators linked to licensed crime.

Tim Kostello, the lead lawyer for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, said that over his own years of work, he has heard many tough sentences to end Crown's footprint, but believes he hasn't actually spit on this one casino giant.

"If Bergin has come to the conclusion that Crown actually facilitates licensed crime, then Finkelstein has come to the conclusion that Crown actually operates as a licensed criminal group," Church said in an interview with the newspaper on Saturday.

The allegations of tax fraud dominated the past week, but only became known when Crown sent the commission an electronic bill detailing the underpayments.

On the first day of the week, the commission discovered how Crown had decided not to tell the regulator that it was actually running away from paying the required tax of up to $270 million by underpaying advertising costs - such as parking and drinks given by a faithful schedule of poker machine guns - due to the fact that it didn't actually think that the regulator would be concerned about this.

Crown Melbourne's chief director Brooks Walsh confessed that he had actually been aware of the concerns for the underpayment pretenses since 2018, and said that "we have a chance for something like" receiving tax.

"If Bergin has indicated that Crown is in fact facilitating licensed crime, Finkelstein similarly concludes that Crown itself is operating as a licensed criminal enterprise."

The admission led Crown chief executive Anthony Corsanos to tell the inquiry on Wednesday that, essentially, if Walsh had deliberately concealed information about the matter, she would not have been "comfortable" to keep him in his position.

Corsanos is one of the three crowns who survived the purge after the Bargin survey.

The other was Helen Kunan, and she was a director for 10 years, but she was promoted to chairman for company purification.

According to the Howard's Minister, she was acquainted with the royal boss James Packer at the time of the politician, and was in charge of a senior in an inexperienced industry.

Lawyer Adrian Finanzio said that Kunan's recent chairman was part of the "communication strategy" and gave the impression that he was "cleaning." I pointed out the email.

He asked Chairman Kunan why he did not know the practice written in the Bargin report, such as money laundering and the suspicion of an illegal jacket inviting foreign VIP in exchange for a commission, to a casino. did.

Kunan argued that the details of such suspicious practices were simply not to pay her attention.

"The problem for me was that the board was not brought to the Board of Directors," she said.

Finandio asked why she and the board of directors chose to counterattack instead of investigating it when allegations became public in 2019.

Kunan replied that the Board had decided to take a "defensive position" based on legal advice.

Costello argued that the scope of the committee was not actually wide enough, and should expand, including the role of the supervisor who promotes scandals.

He stated in the episode of Four Corners on Monday that a casino inspector, who reported the suspicion of crown illegal acts, had delayed the survey on a daily basis. (Late Thursday, the Victoria State Sake and Gaming Regulatory Commission announced its own investigation on this allegation).

Costello mentioned the Crown Casino License of the Crown's casino license, former Prime Minister Victoria and Daniel and Ryu's current Prime Minister of Victoria, as a politician to lead the Royal Committee himself.

He says the word "royal minister" has an ominous meaning in Victoria's politics. The crown here is a law itself. "

Costello has alleged that the royal committee has judged that the crown is not suitable for a casino license, and that Star Entertainment will acquire it.

With Star already controlling casinos from Sydney to Brisbane, Costello believes it's time to set up a national regulator rather than a decentralised system of state regulators.

One of the suggestions made to the Royal Commission on Regulatory Reform came from Timothy Falkiner, a former trade lawyer for the now-defunct Casino Control department in the mid-1990s, when Crown opened in Melbourne.

Falkiner, who also worked on gambling-related bailouts and knew the odds on the organisation's chairman, expressed surprise at the outrage shown by the commissioner at the scale of Crown's misconduct.

"So this is the casino industry. "Organized crime sees the gambling business as a family law, and they promote casinos as being a little dirty, tacky, and glamorous by their nature, and that permeates the whole organization.

Falkiner recommended the committee to restore independent management of the directors who oversee the casinos.

"Previously, Ian Manning was based at the casinos, walking around and pestering Bosso Casino, asking questions. "If the bosses didn't have good answers, Ian went back to us and we brought the questions to the board."

Falkiner also wants to introduce rules that would limit the management of casino companies that are solely focused on gambling and have no other interests, such as influential media shares.

"You need a focus to manage the casinos, because when a lot of money rolls in, it can get out of control with addictive marketing," he says. "You can't have people who don't have experience in hedging just looking at this as another business, or have media machines like James Picker become so influential that they lose control."

He also believes casino owners should belong to Australia and have only internal interests.

"It's much harder to regulate the activities of multinational companies." Ask James Packer over Zoom and you'll find him sitting on the deck of a yacht in the Pacific, martini in hand.

Falkiner couldn't offer up many details, taking into account that Packer made a eulogy in a video ahead of the 2020 investigation into Bergin, who blamed his death on strong medication prescribed to treat his bipolar disorder.

Packer stepped down as a director of Crown in 2018 but remains a major shareholder.

Following the report of Virgin that Crown is not qualified to operate Sydney's balangaroo casino, the New South Wales' Bulk Gambling Bureau has retired from Packer and has agreed that no one will be nominated to the directors until October 2024. I exchanged with Packer. In return, the crown is allowed to set up a gaming room in balangaroo.

Bargin's report is an excuse for the same royal committee not only in Victoria but also in Western Australia, and is still investigating whether Perth's casinos are properly regulated.

One of the major issues of Crown is that multiple states have come and go, new information has been discovered, which leads to a more broad investigation.

The Crown Perth Investigation Committee is information from people who are insighted about inappropriate gambling acts such as money laundering (fund cleaning) before the start of the second stage of the second stage scheduled for July 23 this week. Called for provision.

New Southwales authorities are considering whether to reconsider the Balangaroo planning permission based on new information from Victoria.

By the end of the year, gambling begins with balangaroo, and Australia will give a trial to the old gambler saying, and determine if the house really wins.

The article was published on the "Royal Scandal" on the Saturday Paper on July 10, 2021.

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