Ex-Star chief Matt Bekier told to not worry about crime links
Former Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier was told there was ‘nothing to worry about’ in relation to allegations one of the casino company’s junket operators had links to criminals.
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Former Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier was told there was “nothing to worry about” in relation to allegations that one of the casino company’s junket operators had links to criminal organisations.
Mr Bekier told the Federal Court on Wednesday that he asked then Star group manager of due diligence and intelligence Angus Buchanan for a copy of a report by the Hong Kong Jockey Club that outlined allegations junket operator Suncity had associations with crime gangs.
Mr Bekier and eight other former executives and directors of Star are being prosecuted by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for breaches in relation to their failure to enforce anti-money-laundering controls at the casino operator.
Mr Bekier said he became aware of the report about Macau-based Suncity after it “was first kicked around in the media and … and I went on a chase to get a copy”.
He said Mr Buchanan, who was a former employee of the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s investigations department and had produced the report, told him he could not give him a copy because it was not his to provide. “I then asked him is there anything in that report that should make us concerned,” Mr Bekier told the court.
“And Mr Buchanan said, ‘no, the report is a collection of allegations that are all well-known’. You also have to bear in mind that we wrote this report for a competitor of Suncity.’
“I said I understood his position. He had told me that there was nothing to worry about … and he’s one of the people that I would be relying on, or the company would be relying on, I trusted his judgment.”
However, ASIC lead counsel Ruth Higgins, SC, said Mr Bekier was giving a false account of his conversation with Mr Buchanan. “The evidence you just gave to His Honour about the discussion you say you had with Mr Buchanan about the Hong Kong Jockey Club report is false. Do you agree?” Dr Higgins said.
Mr Bekier said his evidence was correct.
He said junkets did pose a risk to the casino operator because the source of funds was an issue. “It is a risk that is inherent in the casino business per se,” Mr Bekier said. “I think what made junkets more risky was the fact that there were different jurisdictions where this money came from.”
The court was told earlier that Star’s board in 2018 approved increasing Suncity’s credit cashing facilities from $50m to $80m. Mr Bekier told the court Star’s internal process to approve an increase in such a facility was satisfactory.
“I knew about the processes we had and the fact that those processes were operating and that they had been reviewed and found satisfactory,” Mr Bekier said. “So I took comfort from the fact that I knew the machine worked and I didn’t feel the need to make specific inquiries on a specific application.”
Mr Bekier said the company also “had a whole set of processes” in place to monitor any new information that would come in regard to a junket operator.
He said the top NSW gaming regulator had praised his company and said there was “day and night” between Star and Crown, when Crown was embroiled in its own money-laundering scandal.
When allegations of money laundering at Crown broke in 2019, the Star board was “very focused on what that meant for us”. He said it resulted in him, chief counsel Paula Martin and then-chairman John O’Neill meeting with Philip Crawford, then-chairman of the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority.
“The whole topic of discussion was pretty broad-ranging but it was an effort by Mr O’Neill to open the door and make sure that we had an open line of communication,” Mr Bekier said. Mr Crawford had said “he felt there was a very different type of engagement between us and Crown” and “said, ‘look, I like meeting with you, but I’m not sure we need to because I feel like we’ve got a good relationship with Star’.”
The hearing continues on Thursday.
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Originally published as Ex-Star chief Matt Bekier told to not worry about crime links
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