James Packer a casino board no-show for three years

James Packer failed to attend a single board meeting of Crown Resort’s Perth subsidiary for three years, during which time money-laundering activity within the ­casino continued to take place.

James Packer appears before the Perth royal commission from his polo ranch in Argentina on Friday.

James Packer failed to attend a single board meeting of Crown Resort’s Perth subsidiary for three years, during which time money-laundering activity within the ­casino continued to take place.

Dialling into the West Australian royal commission into the Perth casino from his polo ranch in Argentina, Mr Packer admitted to “many oversights” from his time as chairman of Crown’s Perth arm, Burswood Ltd.

Looking pale, and with specks of grey in his closely cropped hair, the gaming mogul looked considerably older than he did when he made his last public appearance – at the NSW Bergin inquiry into Crown a year ago.

Since then, the Bergin ­inquiry’s findings – including that Crown likely facilitated money laundering through VIP high rollers with links to organised crime – have triggered royal commissions in both Victoria and WA and a wave of resignations from the Crown board.

This week, a Victorian royal commission found Crown had engaged in “illegal, dishonest, ­unethical and exploitative” misconduct in Melbourne and recommended Mr Packer cut his controlling stake in the group from 37 per cent to no more than 5 per cent within three years.

Under questioning from counsel assisting Patricia Cahill SC, Mr Packer told how he stopped ­attending the board meetings of Crown Perth from about 2013 onwards, even as he continued on as both its chairman and the chairman of Crown Resorts as a whole.

It took one year for right-hand man John Alexander to step in and assume the role of acting chair, with Mr Alexander only formally becoming chair in 2016 as mental health issues led Mr Packer to reduce his leadership roles at Crown, before ultimately resigning in 2018.

“Would you accept that the governance of Burswood Ltd must necessarily have suffered without an engaged chair of the company in the role during that three-year period?” Ms Cahill asked.

“There is no doubt I should have attended or resigned,” Mr Packer replied. “I did neither.”

But he said he believed he was still “keeping an eye on things” at Crown Perth, and believed that the casino had a good culture.

“At some point the culture slipped,” he said, saying that his absence was “potentially” at least partially responsible for that.

He also conceded that Burswood Ltd had a lack of financial crime management and anti-money laundering expertise within its ranks, and agreed that the lack of a charter setting out the role and responsibilities of the Burswood board members was a “failure” on his part.

He also said it was a mistake that the majority of the Burswood board members were also executives of the casino, which Ms Cahill said meant the Perth casino was effectively overseeing itself.

“Looking back, there are many oversights and things that should have been done differently,” he said.

However, he strongly denied he was only interested in the ­financial returns from the casino and nothing else, pointing to the redevelopment of the Perth ­casino as proof of his commitment to the state.

“I was financially and emotionally committed to Perth,” he said. “Perth was very important to me, it was the first casino that PBL had bought outside of Melbourne. I love Western Australia. I love Western Australians and I wanted Crown to do a really good job transforming Burswood to Crown Perth.”

The billionaire also confirmed that he still intends to go ahead with his $60m purchase of an apartment within Crown’s Barangaroo development in Sydney, ­although he was unsure as to whether he would be living in it.

Mr Packer has given undertakings to WA regulator the Gaming and Wagering Commission preventing his Consolidated Press Holdings from seeking representation on the Crown board or providing advice or seeking ­information from it. Mr Packer said he did not believe his ownership of the Barangaroo apartment and its proximity to Crown’s Sydney operations could cause an ­inadvertent breach with his ­undertakings to the GWC.

“I don’t think so, but if the commission disagrees, then I’m happy to look at it,” he said.

“I‘d like to leave that to my lawyers.”