Ex-Dan Andrews staffer ‘pressured’ casino regulator

The premier’s former spinner was behind a threat to call the minister on the employee of the Victorian gaming regulator, a royal commission has heard.

Ms Fielding agreed that in the past it was the case that “at times” the commercial side of Crown pressured the compliance and legal divisions to achieve certain outcomes. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

A former adviser to Victorian premier Daniel Andrews pushed a Crown Resorts compliance chief to tell an employee of the casino regulator they’d complain to the gaming minister if they didn’t back off, the Victorian royal commission into the company has heard.

It was also heard that the James Packer-backed group knew a former practice of allowing high-rollers to purchase casino chips through Chinese credit cards charged to a hotel room bill was most likely illegal and devised a legal argument for if it were to be noticed by the regulator.

The evidence emerged on Monday through an appearance of Crown’s executive general manager for regulatory and compliance Michelle Fielding, who was behind the “aggressive” 2019 phone call to Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation’s (VCGLR) auditor Jason Cremona.

Mr Cremona told the commission last month that when he attempted to follow up on steps Crown had agreed to take to make certain international patrons more identifiable after almost a year of back-and-forth, Ms Fielding threatened to report him to then Victorian gaming Minister Marlene Kairouz.

But on Monday Ms Fielding said the threat was not her own initiative, and that she was “asked to respond very firmly” to Mr Cremona by former Crown legal boss Joshua Preston and Mr Andrew’s former director of parliament and Strategic relations turn Crown corporate affairs director, Chris Reilly.

Ms Fielding said both were “in my office” during her call with Mr Cremona, “prompting” her to threaten escalation to the Minister.

“I wouldn’t ring Jason in that tone again, whether I was asked to or not,” she said.

Mr Reilly left the Andrews government to become general manager of tourism at Crown in 2018, prompting criticism from the state’s opposition,

Opposition gambling spokesperson Steph Ryan earlier this year said “It is a matter of public record that Crown has donated significant sums of money to the Labor Party and his former media spinner now works at Crown” in reference to Mr Reilly.

Later on Monday the commission examined Crown’s past practice of accepting China Union Pay cards through at the Crown Towers hotel desk in Melbourne to purchase chips charged miscellaneously to a hotel room bill.

This month Crown publicly disclosed the defunct practice – which was in effect between 2012 and 2016 - accepting it contravened Victorian casino rules.

But emails from Ms Fielding displayed showed she had highlighted the practice’s dubious legal status internally back in August of 2012 while proposing potential legal defences if the VCGLR caught wind of the scheme.

She wrote that although Victoria’s casino control act “prevents the provision of cash or chips as part of a transaction involving a credit card or debit card,” it does allow for the casino to extend credit itself to international high rollers.

“There is therefore a risk that the regulator may take the view that to take advantage of the exemption, it must be the casino operator providing the credit and not the bank,” Ms Fielding continued.

“We would argue in reply if the matter arises that the chips are being sold on credit as facilitated by and for the benefit of the casino operator and accordingly, in our view, the exemption should apply.”

Commissioner Raymond Finkelstein and counsel assisting quizzed Ms Fielding on how she believed at the time the issue could be construed as Crown extending credit, but Ms Fielding said she couldn’t recall and the email may have been co-written with her former boss, Debra Tegoni.

“If you weren’t going to get caught, you’d get away with it, if you got caught, you knew you were in trouble,” Mr Finkelstein said.

“Basically,” Ms Fielding replied.

Ms Fielding couldn’t offer an explanation for why she didn’t intervene at a later point, only that Ms Tegoni asked her to stay away from the issue – even though the commission had emails indicating Ms Tegoni was also aware of the potential illegality of the practice.

Ms Fielding agreed that in the past it was the case that “at times” the commercial side of Crown pressured the compliance and legal divisions to achieve certain outcomes.

The commission continues on Tuesday.

Victoria’s royal commission into Crown Resorts will determine if it should retain the gaming licence for its Melbourne casino. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling