Cash in cooler bag red flag for money laundering, says Coonan
CROWN Resorts may never deal with Chinese junket operators again, chair Helen Coonan says.
And footage of a man taking wads of cash from a bag at Crown’s Melbourne casino raised red flags that one such junket could have been used to launder funds, she has conceded. Appearing for a second day before an inquiry into Crown’s operations, Ms Coonan yesterday said she had no knowledge gamblers were allegedly engaging in money laundering at the casino.
The former Liberal senator said she only become aware that Macau’s biggest junket operator, Suncity, was operating a cash desk in its own dedicated room at the casino when bombshell allegations surfaced in the media last year.
Leaked footage of a man unloading big wads of cash from a cooler bag at a counter inside the room — and exchanging them for gaming chips — was widely broadcast.
“I didn’t have any knowledge at all what Suncity did in the room,” Ms Coonan said yesterday.
She conceded the footage raised red flags the junket could have been used for laundering money.
It has also been revealed Crown made no attempt to close the Suncity room after it failed to comply with audits instigated by the casino.
Ms Coonan said the company had faced a “blitzkrieg of allegations” and admitted there were “some shortcomings”.
She blamed “ineptitude rather than turning a blind eye” and the coronavirus pandemic for the long time it had taken the board to act on the allegations.