Authority to probe sale of Packer casino shares

The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority will launch an inquiry with public hearings and royal commission powers.

The proposed sale of shares from James Packer’s Crown to Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho will be probed. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty

The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority will launch an inquiry with public hearings and royal commission powers into the proposed sale of shares from James Packer’s Crown to Hong Kong businessman Lawrence Ho, and into ­recent allegations against Crown as the company builds its Sydney casino.

In a statement yesterday, the authority announced the inquiry under section 143 of the Casino Control Act, saying of the probe into Mr Ho’s involvement in the facility that: “The sale (of shares to Mr Ho) was announced in a Crown Resorts Limited/ASX media release dated 31 May, 2019, and has apparently yet to be finalised.

“The authority is inquiring into this transaction under section­ 35 of the act, together with various matters raised in recent media reports published by the Nine Network, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age relating to Crown Resorts.

“The authority has issued notices­ to relevant Crown parties and other parties compulsorily seeking documents and inform­ation which will assist it in its ­investigations.”

The ILGA will look at “ensuring that the management and operation of a casino remain free from criminal influence or exploitation, that gaming in a casino is conducted honestly and controlling the potential of a casino to cause harm to the public interest and to individuals and families”.

It has previously been report­ed that when the ILGA approved Crown’s Barangaroo development, it insisted that Crown, then in a joint venture with Melco in Macau, bar Mr Ho’s father, Stanley Ho, from having any ­involvement.

Mr Ho Sr has previously been accused of associations with gangsters.

In its statement, the authority said it would appoint former Suprem­e Court judge Pat­ricia Bergin to conduct the inquiry.

Naomi Sharp and Scott Aspin­all will be appointed as counsel assisting the inquiry.

“Patricia Bergin SC was a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW from 1999 to 2017, serving as commercial list judge and thereafter as chief judge in equity from 2009 to January 2017,’’ the authority said.

“The inquiry will take evidence in public, with the capacity to conduct private hearings to receive­ confidential information from law enforcement or other sensitive information.”