James Packer’s man Michael Johnston in spotlight on Crown China arrests

The boardroom of James Packer’s Crown Resorts has long been graced by a star-studded line-up of directors.

Crown’s Sydney casino licence is at stake in the inquiry.

The boardroom of James Packer’s Crown Resorts has long been graced by a star-studded line-up of directors.

Think names like Chris Corrigan, Geoff Dixon, Ben Brazil; more recently Jane Halton, Harold Mitchell, Andrew Demetriou and now chairman Helen Coonan.

One name in the 15 years since Kerry Packer’s passing has barely rated a public mention.

But in the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority’s inquiry that kicked up a gear this week, Crown director Michael Johnston emerged as a key figure of interest for the influential role he seemingly played in the affairs of Crown in the lead-up to the dramatic arrest of its staff in China in October 2016.

The inquiry is examining whether Crown should retain its licence for its soon-to-be-completed $2.4bn Sydney casino, which the company reaffirmed this week would open in December.

In the hearing on Friday, former Crown chief executive Rowen Craigie denied the casino group had a “cosy” relationship with consulate officials in China to fast-track visas for high rollers and said it was ultimately up to the Australian authorities to rule on issuing visas for Chinese gamblers at Crown.

But his more intriguing evidence came on Thursday, where he reflected on the interest of Mr Johnston in the company’s high roller operations.

“Both Mike and James (Packer) are very numerate. To understand the complexity of the VIP business, you need to understand the volatility of rebates, so it was a natural fit for Mike’s skill set,’’ Mr Craigie told the hearing.

He said the involvement of Mr Johnston, the long-serving financial controller of Mr Packer’s private company Consolidated Press Holdings, was reflecting the strong interest of Crown’s billionaire owner in the finances of the company’s VIP operations.

“It has clearly got links to what is happening in the rest of the world. Mr Packer had a particular interest in Asia, in China and the joint venture with (Lawrence Ho’s) Melco (Group) of which he was the architect. He was drawn to the mathematics of the VIP business as well,’’ Mr Craigie told the hearing.

Mr Packer, who was chairman of Crown up until mid 2015, even established monthly CEO meetings that he chaired where the VIP performance was discussed. They were attended by Mr Craigie, Crown’s Australian Resorts chief Barry Felstead, Mr Johnston and Mark Arbib, who was also an executive of CPH.

Mr Craigie told the inquiry he had no discussions with Mr Packer about the arrests of Crown’s China staff and the events leading up to them.

But he revealed he had been left in the dark by his executive team on a range of issues on the ground in China, including fears expressed by the staff for their safety, which should have been elevated to the board’s risk committee.

He admitted it was a failure of Crown’s corporate governance systems.

Most damning was his revelation that he was not told by Mr Felstead about two Crown staff in China being questioned by Chinese police in July 2015, where one was accused of organising people to gamble in Australia.

Mr Felstead then authorised the Chinese authorities to be sent a letter confirming the staff member worked for Crown but omitted its involvement in gambling.

While neither Mr Craigie nor the risk management committee of the Crown board was told about the interrogation of Crown’s staff or the letter, Mr Felstead did send information about the issues to Mr Johnston.

Mr Packer’s special assistant Ishan Ratnam was also made aware of the letter.

Mr Ratnam revealed to the inquiry that he had also discussed with another CPH executive, Matthew Csidei, a plan to remove the Crown logos from the casino company’s private jets used for Chinese high-rollers because of the government crackdown on its citizens gambling abroad.

It was another issue Mr Craigie said he was unaware of.

Mr Johnston and Mr Ratnam were both members of a so-called CPH VIP working group that was constantly appraised of the situation on the ground in China by its group executive manager VIP Jason O’Connor and international marketing president Michael Chen.

Mr Felstead admitted to the inquiry there were times when he provided more information about the Chinese high-roller business to the CPH VIP group and Mr Johnston than to his own CEO.

“There were instances where I should have told him [Mr Craigie] things, I accept that, but I was under no illusion that Mr Craigie was my boss at all times,” he insisted.

But the role played by CPH, Mr Johnston and what he told the board — and more significantly, Mr Packer — about the situation in China is sure to be further scrutinised by inquiry head, former Supreme Court judge Patricia Bergin.

Long-serving and now retired Crown director Rowena Danziger will take the stand on Monday.