Former Star casino treasurer admits behaviour was dishonest, unethical

The Star casino inquiry has heard damning evidence from a former staff member and NAB boss, who denied knowledge of dodgy practices.

The Star Entertainment Group’s former treasurer has told an inquiry she was unethical and dishonest in her dealings with a bank investigating millions of dollars worth of suspicious spending on gambling.

Sarah Scopel made the confessions while giving evidence on day two of a royal commission-style inquiry into The Star’s compliance with its casino licence and whether it remains free from criminal influence or exploitation, among other factors.

Sarah Scopel said she acted in a dishonest and unethical way when dealing with the NAB while she was The Star’s treasurer. Picture: ANZ

The inquiry was told that in late 2019 Ms Scopel and The Star’s senior officials were aware the People’s Bank of China and financial services company China Union had raised concerns UnionPay debit cards were being used by high rollers to spend up to $20m in some cases at the casino.

Gambling is illegal in China and the UnionPay cards cannot be used for that purpose; however, The Star was accepting payments from the cards at hotels attached to its Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane casinos and later transferring the money to patrons’ gambling accounts.

On Friday the inquiry was told The Star’s bank, NAB, started asking questions of Ms Scopel and her colleagues when it received a request from UnionPay for more information about card transactions.

“I accept I was aware there was, potentially, that there was a link,” Ms Scopel said when asked by counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, if she was aware the China Union debit cards were being used to fund gambling.

The future of The Star casino in Pyrmont is under a cloud while an independent review takes place. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

In response to the questions from NAB, Ms Scopel told the inquiry The Star responded with misleading answers that made it look like the large spending transactions were non-gaming related and could have been for jewellery, cars, accommodation or cruises.

“I was concerned that if I didn’t provide the response The Star wanted, which was consistent with the previous agreed approach to responding … for a long period of time, that it could impact my employment,” Ms Scopel said.

When Ms Sharp read out parts of The Star’s code of conduct, Ms Scopel agreed she did not report unethical behaviour and engaged in conduct that could have brought the organisation into disrepute.

“Your behaviour towards NAB in relation to its queries about the NAB transactions was dishonest, wasn’t it?” Ms Sharp asked.

Ms Scopel answered “yes” to that question and agreed with Ms Sharp’s assertion that the conduct was “unethical”.

According to Ms Scopel, NAB staff, including The Star’s former key contact at the organisation, Tanya Arthur, knew there was a risk the UnionPay cards could have been used to fund gaming.

“We couldn’t provide confirmation that the transactions were non-gaming,” Ms Scopel said.

“My impression was that Ms Arthur and NAB generally were aware of the difficulty in providing the non-gaming confirmations and were aware of the connection to gaming.”

NAB boss Tanya Arthur will return to give more evidence when the inquiry continues on Monday. Picture: LinkedIn

While giving evidence later in the day, Ms Arthur said she had “no memory” of that conversation occurring with Ms Scopel.

“I cannot confirm that it did not take place,” she said while repeatedly denying having any knowledge the UnionPay cards were being used to access money that was gambled at The Star.

“I believed the explanations provided to me.”

Ms Arthur told the inquiry she first became aware of the scandal when a 60 Minutes story about it went to air.

“I was quite shocked,” she said.

The “adverse media” triggered a meeting between senior staff from NAB and The Star last year, but Ms Arthur said the use of the ChinaPay cards was not discussed.

“I don’t believe there was a reason,” she said when asked why that issue was not discussed.

The inquiry heard Ms Arthur was also aware The Star had responsibility for a NAB account in the name of EEI Services, which was a conduit to move money to The Star.

“I believe it provided loans to particular patrons that were clients of the casino,” Ms Arthur said.

The inquiry was previously told $900m had been brought into Australia disguised as hotel expenses using the debit card system that was open to exploitation and was hidden from intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.

Originally published as Former Star casino treasurer admits behaviour was dishonest, unethical