Helen Coonan ‘unsuitable’ for Crown role, says Victorian Royal Commission

Counsel assisting recommends Crown lose its Melbourne casino licence and executive chair Helen Coonan be found unsuitable for the top job.

Helen Coonan in front of the Crown Sydney building in January 2020. Picture: Adam Yip

Crown Resorts executive chairman Helen Coonan has been dealt a stunning blow by the Victorian royal commission into the casino group, with counsel assisting recommending that she be found unsuitable to occupy the top job.

Counsel assisting the commission Adrian Finanzio SC made the submission on Tuesday, shortly after he declared that Crown was not a suitable licensee for the Melbourne casino.

“Ms Coonan’s track record as a director of Crown Resorts and then as the chair makes clear that her inaction in the past clearly contributed to the current problems,” Mr Finanzio said.

“If Crown is to retain its licence, it would be open to the commissioner to make the finding that Ms Coonan is not a suitable associate of Crown Melbourne.”

Ms Coonan has flagged her intention to stand down around the time of Crown’s AGM in October, the same month the commission will officially report on her and Crown’s suitability to the Victorian government.

But the stunning rebuke is still a hit to Ms Coonan’s reputation, especially after NSW’s Bergin inquiry concluded she was the right person to reform Crown after it decided to temporarily suspend the company’s NSW casino licence earlier this year.

“Ms Coonan has demonstrated the qualities that are necessary to have taken her into the leadership role of Crown and is exquisitely aware of the depths of the problems within the company of which she is now Chairman,” commissioner Patricia Bergin wrote in February.

Ms Coonan’s efforts to overhaul Crown’s culture, management, compliance and money-laundering systems also impressed NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority chair Philip Crawford, who has said Crown will probably be able to ­reopen its Sydney casino by the end of the year.

On Tuesday night Ms Coonan said she looks forward to have an opportunity to respond fully in Crown’s submission in reply.

“For me personally, the easiest path would have been to walk away last year, but that would not have been the right response,” Ms Coonan said.

“Since then, we have made tremendous progress in reforming the company and we are working our way back towards a position of suitability in NSW”.

“I am the first to acknowledge we have more to do, and we will not hesitate to usher in any changes necessary,” she said.

Mr Finanzio claimed Ms Coonan’s suitability was affected by her failure to “ask questions” of “old guard” management about problems the company was facing, such as money laundering allegations, during her 10 years as director.

He said this continued to be a problem, pointing to her alleged failure to ensure that tax underpayment, brought to her attention in February by Crown Melbourne CEO Xavier Walsh, was properly investigated and disclosed to the commission.

“In the conversation between Ms Coonan and Mr Walsh, based on her evidence alone of what she was told, Ms Coonan in our submission showed a stunning lack of curiosity,” Mr Finanzio said.

“And we say stunning because since May 2019 she had every reason to be sceptical of the senior management of Crown.

“Ms Coonan’s lack of curiosity translates to and is consistent with the kind of attitude and approach that has beset Crown during the period of her tenure on the board,” he said.

Ms Coonan previously told the commission that Mr Walsh presented the problem as a latent cultural issue that had been “cured or fixed” and she ordered him to investigate it and disclose it to the commission.

But a file note Mr Walsh took of the conversation indicated that Ms Coonan was to consider the issue, Mr Finanzio said, while Mr Walsh was to “consider how to communicate the matter”.

Despite indicating that Mr Walsh’s long tenure as a Crown manager meant he may not be forthcoming, Mr Finanzio submitted that his version of the meeting should be accepted.

“It’s more likely, in our submission, that Mr Walsh’s note accurately reflects the true position. Mr Walsh and Ms Coonan agree that Ms Coonan never followed up,” he said.

However, that did not stop Mr Finanzio from submitting that Mr Walsh was not suitable to be CEO of Crown Melbourne.

“The evidence of this hearing has brought into question the judgment and integrity of Mr Walsh in a number of respects … he along with Ms Coonan cannot be the credible face of change required at Crown if it is to remain the licensee,” he said.

Counsel assisting did not make any specific recommendations about the suitability of any other person at Crown.

Mr Finanzio said that the China Union Pay policy involved the participation of staff members at all levels of the company, many of them said the practice seemed illegal.

The policy involved the acceptance of $160m worth of payments between 2012 and 2016 for gaming chips from high-rollers at the desk of its Crown Towers Hotel, with the balance charged to fake or real hotel room invoices, obscuring the true purpose of the funds.

Originally published as Helen Coonan ‘unsuitable’ for Crown role, says Victorian Royal Commission