Crown chief Helen Coonan in denial over ‘catastrophic’ operation

Crown chair Helen Coonan denies trying to interfere with a royal commission into its suitability to hold a gambling licence.

Crown Chair Helen Coonan. Picture: Supplied

Crown Resorts executive chair Helen Coonan has denied trying to interfere with the Victorian royal commission into the group’s suitability to hold a gambling licence, after it was revealed she warned the Andrews government of “catastrophic consequences” if the commission made adverse findings.

The former communications minister sought to portray disgraced board members and senior staff linked to the company’s largest shareholder James Packer as “old Crown”, before being forced to concede that Crown’s tactic of failing to admit wrongdoing was still in play as recently as January this year.

Giving evidence via videolink, Ms Coonan confirmed former Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton was retained on a six month, $1.5m consulting contract signed by her in February, despite the company publicly distancing itself from Mr Barton in a bid to present a clean slate in the wake of damning findings by the Bergin inquiry in NSW.

The Bergin inquiry ultimately found Crown unsuitable to hold a licence for its $2.2bn Barangaroo development in Sydney until it met key governance and compliance criteria, prompting the resignation of a number of directors and Ms Coonan’s elevation to executive chair.

The NSW findings sparked the Victorian royal commission currently being conducted by former Federal Court judge Raymond Finkelstein – who must decide whether the company is sufficiently reformed to be fit to hold a gambling licence in that state – as well as a separate royal commission in WA.

Ms Coonan’s evidence came as the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation announced it had appointed eminent QC Dr Ian Freckelton to conduct an independent inquiry after five of the VCGLR’s former inspectors alleged in a Four Corners episode aired earlier this week that the regulator had allowed criminal activity to flourish at Crown’s Melbourne casino.

Led through her evidence by Counsel Assisting Adrian Finanzio SC on Thursday, the former lawyer and Howard government minister confirmed she had no prior board experience when she joined the Crown Resorts board as a director in 2011, soon after retiring from the Senate.

“I was interested of course in joining companies,” Ms Coonan said, explaining that she had met both James Packer and his father Kerry several times as communications minister, and had been introduced to James Packer as a prospective board member “through a third party”.

Mr Finanzio showed the commission a partially redacted letter recently written by Crown’s lawyer Leon Zwier on behalf of Ms Coonan and the company to Victorian Gaming Minister Melissa Horne, stating that Ms Coonan wanted to discuss with the minister “further attempts Crown may be willing to take to establish a better and more productive working relationship with the state”.

The letter said Ms Coonan and the company also wanted “to discuss the counterfactuals that may arise after the Victorian Commissioner delivers his recommendations to your government,” and warned Ms Horne that it “is not in the public interest for Crown to fail”.

Mr Finanzio said the public interest submission suggested “this is a submission to government about matters that are squarely within the purview of this royal commission”.

Ms Coonan disputed that that was the intention of the letter, arguing: “It was very much a matter of looking at external stakeholders and people that are impacted.”

Commissioner Finkelstein interjected: “In plain reading, the way you could achieve the objective of this letter and guarantee (that) what you didn’t want (to) happen wouldn’t happen is to stop the commission altogether,” he said.

Ms Coonan replied: “I don’t respectfully agree with that because, for example, if there would be the finding that was contemplated here … there are quite catastrophic circumstances and implications that have implications for the government and presumably they may be able to do something about it.”

“But I think it was really for more abundant caution wishing the government to be alert to the fact that there could be these sorts of things in prospect,” she said.

Earlier, Ms Coonan told the commission that she had sought as executive chair to create a new relationship between Crown and the VCGLR based on a spirit of “co-operation and collaboration”.

Quizzed by Mr Finanzio over a document she signed in late January challenging an attempt by the VCGLR to create an agreed statement of facts regarding the 2016 arrests of 19 Crown staff accused of illegally promoting gambling in China, Ms Coonan was forced to admit the “old Crown” regime had continued under her watch.

“It’s the old Crown, taking every point, arguing every issue, not accepting basic propositions of facts,” Mr Finanzio said.

“I think that’s a fair way to characterise it … It’s the old Crown, January this year. ” Ms Coonan replied.