Packer, Ho to face casino inquiry
DEBORAH CORNWALL
MACAU gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho and Australian billionaire James Packer will both be ordered to appear as witnesses at a wide-ranging casino inquisition.
The extraordinary breadth of the inquiry into Crown Resorts’ operations in New South Wales was outlined yesterday in opening addresses.
It will include a “robust” investigation into allegations of “criminal infiltration” and money laundering in Australia through the operation of VIP junkets for high rollers or “rolling chit players”.
The inquiry, by former NSW Supreme Court judge Paddy Bergin, will have all the powers of a royal commission.
It was prompted by Mr Packer’s decision to sell 19.9 per cent of his Crown shares, potentially worth $1.75 billion, to Mr Ho’s Melco Resorts.
The inquiry will also investigate a series of damning allegations that Crown or its associates had been working with junket operators to run money-laundering operations inside high-roller rooms.
One of the two counsel assisting Commissioner Bergin, Adam Bell, SC, revealed the inquiry would be broken up into five hearings.
The first hearing, to start on February 24, will focus on the “vulnerabilities of casinos to money laundering” and explore the relationships between junket operators and casinos and the effectiveness of current regulatory controls and anti-money laundering strategies.
The second and fourth hearings will be focused on the share deal between Mr Packer and Mr Ho.
That deal has stalled over concerns Melco Resorts’ ties to Lawrence Ho’s 98-year-old father, Stanley Ho, could be in breach of terms attached to Crown’s licence for a high-roller casino in Sydney.
The inquiry heard Stanley Ho dominated the Macau gambling scene for four decades but had consistently denied allegations he was connected to organised crime or the triads.
It also heard two previous investigations in 2013 and 2014 had effectively cleared Lawrence Ho as an acceptable associate of Mr Packer’s Crown group.
The third hearing will focus on Nine Entertainment’s allegations about Crown’s ties to junket operators, while the fifth and final hearing will amount to a legislative and regulatory review of casino operations around the world.