Jane Halton ‘pressured’ by John Alexander to sign Crown letter

Crown director Jane Halton says she was ‘pressured’ by former chair John Alexander to sign a response to media allegations.

James Packer and former Crown Resorts executive chairman John Alexander in 2017. Picture: AFP

The commissioner of the inquiry into Crown Resorts’ suitability to hold a casino licence in NSW has taken the company to task for planning to open its flagship Barangaroo Sydney casino before she submits her report.

Commissioner Patricia Bergin on Thursday asked board member and former public servant Jane Halton whether she thought it was appropriate for Crown to open Barangaroo on December 14 when the inquiry won’t finish its report until next year.

Any delays to the opening of the company’s flagship $2.2bn project could have wider ramifications for returns on the project, which had originally been pitched as relying on custom from international high rollers.

“Has any thought been given to the fact that it may be perhaps inappropriate to open a casino that is the subject of a suitability inquiry when you know that the suitability inquiry is to continue so that your representatives can be heard, and to not report until the February 1?” Ms Bergin asked.

Ms Halton said she was aware of the February reporting date but that “in terms of that delaying the opening, no, that’s not something I’m aware of being discussed”.

Ms Bergin said she was not referring to delaying the opening, but rather whether the Crown board had considered the “good sense” or “propriety” of choosing December 14 as an opening date.

“Not that I’m aware of, no commissioner,” Ms Halton replied.

Crown Resorts director Jane Halton.

The inquiry also heard that Ms Halton felt pressured by then-executive chairman John Alexander into signing a board response to media allegations about the exposure of the company to organised crime.

The response in July last year, via an ASX release and full-page newspaper advert, attempted to rebut reports that outlined international gambling promoters — or “junkets” — that Crown did business with had ties to organised crime, despite the inquiry hearing that many of the claims in the ad were false. Ms Halton also flagged potential changes to Crown’s executive team, partly as a result of how the response was handled.

She told the inquiry she made numerous inquiries to executives about the allegations raised prior to signing the letter, and felt secure that, at the time, she believed the letter to be factual, based on assurances from chief legal officer Joshua Preston and Australian Resorts chief executive Barry Felstead.

But she said she felt “pressured” to sign the letter by the “executive chairman” who, at that time, was Mr Alexander, as well as other members of the board.

“I think there was pressure from the executive chairman and some others,” Ms Halton said, including from independent directors and those associated with James Packer’s shareholding vehicle, CPH.

“There was a strength of view about the response, and I think it would be unfair of me to single anyone out.”

Ms Halton said the ad incident subsequently caused her to feel “let down” by Mr Preston and Mr Felstead “because I think the number of assurances and facts as they were presented were proven not to be reliable”.

After being asked by counsel assisting Naomi Sharp, Ms Halton admitted she had lost confidence in the men and revealed that the Crown board was considering removing them from their positions.

She also criticised senior vice- president of international business Roland Theiler and chief financial officer Alan McGregor for not getting “the message” on how Crown needed to approach money-laundering risks. The comments came after Ms Sharp showed her an email exchange from April — after the inquiry began — in which Mr Theiler proposed opening bank accounts with ANZ in Hong Kong to help junkets transfer money to Crown.

“How do you feel ANZ would react if customers deposited funds for debt repayments into our ANZ account in Hong Kong?” Mr Theiler wrote in the message.

“Junkets have difficulties in remitting funds to us in Australia and this may provide them with an option.”

Ms Sharp asked Ms Halton if this “rang any alarm bells”, given that Crown had been taken to task for not monitoring company accounts used for customer-debt repayments that the Australian Federal Police last year said were associated with money-laundering activity.

“Yes, Mr Theiler clearly hasn’t got the message,” Ms Halton said, extending that criticism to Mr McGregor for not appearing concerned when emailing a response.

The inquiry resumes on Friday with Crown chairwoman Helen Coonan due to give evidence.