Former Crown CEO Rowen Craigie calls for co-operation in crime fight

Better co-operation between state gaming regulators, police and Austrac could be the key to preventing casinos being infiltrated by organised crime.

Former Crown Resorts chief executive Rowan Craigie.

A former senior gaming industry executive says allowing better co-operation between state gaming regulators, police and financial intelligence agency Austrac could be the key to preventing international organised crime infiltrating the nation’s casinos.

Rowen Craigie, former CEO of the James Packer-backed Crown Resorts, said too often there was a significant lag between a casino or regulator detecting signs of possible money laundering through a casino and action being taken by law enforcement bodies.

“Either Austrac or the gaming regulator could ask the police commissioner to consider, on the basis of evidence they or the casino has obtained, to exclude a person from the casino,” he told the public inquiry into Crown Resorts, which is considering whether Crown should retain the licence for its $2.4bn casino in Sydney.

“That could remain in place until the law enforcement activity is completed. The exclusion could then stand or be revoked.”

The inquiry is also considering regulation of junket operators that bring VIP foreign gamblers to Australian casinos.

Both Crown and Star Entertainment, Australia’s second-largest casino operator, have admitted to the inquiry that they continue to have a relationship with a junket operator with alleged links to organised crime.

Both are still working with Chinese businessman Alvin Chau and his Macau-based and Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Suncity Group.

Mr Chau has reportedly been blocked by the Department of Home Affairs from entering Australia because of his alleged organised crime links.

Human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti, who was chair of the NSW Casino, Liquor and Gaming Authority for six years, has told the inquiry he had insufficient evidence to ban Suncity from The Star in Sydney when media allegations were first made about its links to organised crime in 2014.

The police commissioners in various states have a wide discretionary power to exclude a person from a casino in their state of jurisdiction without the need for them to be charged with or convicted of a criminal offence.

“If junket approvals is going to go to the gaming regulator, if there was a way the gaming regulator could make a decision knowing the police commissioner was not currently considering an exclusion, that might remove a difficulty you can foresee that a regulator approves a junket and then the next week is blindsided by a police exclusion order,’’ Mr Craigie told the inquiry.

“The commissioner’s exclusion powers could be looked at and the appropriate relations between operator, regulator and police commissioner could be explored.”

Mr Craigie, who is now a director of Racing Victoria, joined Crown’s Melbourne casino in 1993 and was chief executive of Crown Resorts from 2007 to 2017.

A series of media reports in July last year alleged Crown’s lax risk management practices allowed it to partner with junket operators with links to drug traffickers, money launderers, human traffickers and organised crime groups.

The reports also revealed major banks shut down Crown bank accounts used by offshore VIP patrons to deposit and withdraw gambling money because of apparent large-scale money laundering.

Two shell companies and accounts, Riverbank Investments and Southbank Investments, were allegedly used for the transfers. Mr Craigie was a director of both entities.

Mr Craigie said while he was not aware of the accounts being used for money-laundering activities, he agreed the banks’ shunning of the accounts should have been a matter that was reported to the company’s directors of the company as a risk for the reputation of Crown.

“Yes, I can accept that,’’ he told the inquiry.

He also said that while the accounts were set up 20 years ago and were part of Crown’s external audit and treated the same way as accounts relating to the Melbourne and Perth casino operations, their names could be misleading to the public and anti-laundering authorities.

“Are these names appropriate 20 years on? They are not. Because it leads to imputations that they are not being monitored and not being treated the same as being in Crown Melbourne or Crown Perth,’’ he said.

The inquiry commissioner, former NSW Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin, expressed her frustration about the lack of oversight of the high roller patron accounts by Crown, suggesting that simply passively fulfilling reporting obligations to the regulator was not enough.

“In-house concurrency of looking at the accounts and making sure rather than just reporting and asking Austrac to take responsibility, there is a real problem with this in this industry,’’ she said.

Retired Crown director Rowena Danziger will be examined by the inquiry on Monday.