Star lawyer says $100k in paper bag ‘suspicious’

The casino operator’s former chief legal counsel Paula Martin said large amounts of cash leaving Star Sydney in bags did not necessarily indicate money laundering but it was ‘suspicious’.

Former Star Entertainment CEO Matt Bekier and former legal counsel Paula Martin.

Former Star Entertainment chief legal counsel Paula Martin said large amounts of cash leaving Star Sydney in bags was “suspicious” but did not necessarily indicate money laundering.

Appearing in the Federal Court, Ms Martin was asked about one incident in 2018 when a man at the front desk of the Salon 95 service desk was handed $100,000 in a brown paper bag.

Salon 95 was operated by junket operator Suncity, which at the time was facing allegations of links to Asian crime gangs.

The court heard the man after withdrawing the money using an iPad attached to the service desk then went down to the lobby where he handed the paper bag to a waiting man. They then both returned and handed back the money to the desk.

Ms Martin told the court that without knowing the relationship between the individuals involved there could be other possibilities besides money laundering.

Ms Martin, former CEO Matt Bekier and seven other former executives at Star are being prosecuted by corporate watchdog ASIC for alleged breaches of anti-money laundering provisions at the casino operator.

“Junket participants play on junkets with junket promoters across a number of properties and may have other dealings between each other and not all participants play on all the same junket so I’m just not sure what the arrangements could be between them,” Ms Martin said. “I agree it’s suspicious.”

The court heard there was concern that “layering” activity, which can be an indicator of money laundering could have been occurring at Star.

Layering is when money is moved through various transactions and accounts to create confusion and distance it from its original source.

Federal Court judge Michael Lee earlier took Ms Martin to task for communicating “during a panic” with her solicitors during the middle of her cross-examination.

Suncity founder Alvin Chau. Picture: David Paul Morris/Getty Images

Ms Martin, who started being cross examined on Monday, admitted she had sent an email to her solicitors overnight asking if they were “permitted to advise me on a procedural matter about how to clarify a point of evidence.” Such communications are generally prohibited to ensure the integrity of evidence and prevent coaching of witnesses.

She said the advice she sought related to whether she became aware prior to 2019 of links between Suncity and founder Alvin Chau, who was facing allegations of links to organised crime. She told the court on Monday she didn’t recall being aware of the link prior to 2019, but clarified on Tuesday she “didn’t disagree” she may have become aware of the link prior to that period.

Justice Lee told Ms Martin: “I gave you a direction not to communicate to any person concerning your evidence. Why, as a solicitor, did you think it was appropriate to send an email to your solicitors asking whether it was appropriate they give advice?”

Ms Martin replied: “Your Honour, because I had quite a panic about the matter and I wasn’t sure how to resolve it.” She said the solicitors did not reply to the email.

Justice Lee: “Well, can I just make it clear? You ought not have any communication to anyone during the course of your cross-examination concerning the matters subject to your cross-examination and you should know that as a solicitor.” Justice Lee took a short adjournment when Ms Martin became visibly emotional following the exchange.

Later, Ms Martin said she did not recall reading a paper she put to the board in 2018 which proposed increasing Suncity and Alvin Chau’s credit facility from $50m to $80m.

“My recollection, having seen documents in connection with this paper, was that it was provided to me for circulation following Mr Bekier’s approval late at night,” she said.

She denied attempting to distance herself from the preparation of the document and said she was not sure of Mr Chau’s position within the Suncity organisation at this time.

She told the court she became concerned when another Star lawyer, Andrew Power, told her cash transactions at the front counter of Salon 95, which included large bags of money, raised the risk of Star breaching anti-money laundering rules. “There were other breaches discussed as well,” Ms Martin said.

In one incident a customer not related to the junket operator received $45,000 in a plastic bag from the front desk and left the casino.

Ms Martin conceded “the conduct can be an indicator of undesirable conduct of individuals” and a possible indicator of money laundering but not the only explanation.

She said at the time she did not consider she had a duty to inform the board of the activities at Salon 95, but with the benefit of hindsight it would have been useful information. She said it was up to Mr Bekier to inform the board on those matters.

Originally published as Star lawyer says $100k in paper bag ‘suspicious’