James Packer’s Crown Resorts has been found unsuitable to hold a casino licence at Barangaroo in Sydney but should be given an opportunity to make sweeping changes to make itself suitable, a much awaited report has found. A report written by former New South Wales supreme court judge, Patricia Bergin SC, said the evidence money laundering, Crown’s operations in China which led to arrests of its staff in 2016, and its associations with junket.
James Packer's Crown Resorts will today find out whether it is suitable to hold a casino licence in NSW, with trading on the stock market halted ahead of the determination.
The state's independent liquor and gaming authority will release the report by Commissioner Patricia Bergin this afternoon, once it is tabled in NSW parliament.
“The review of the Chairman’s evidence demonstrates that her character, honesty and integrity has not been and could not be called into question.”
Ken Barton, chief executive: It was “appalling” and “quite improper” for Barton to give a misleading answer to shareholder activist Stephen Mayne about whether Packer was getting special briefings at Crown’s 2019 annual meeting – but his attempts to justify his conduct while giving evidence to the inquiry “were even more inappropriate for the CEO and director of Crown and director of the licensee”.
“It demonstrated a serious lack of judgment and insight into the expectation of the highest standards of propriety, candour and cooperation of a director of a company that holds a casino licence.”
Calls are growing for an inquiry into the operation of Crown Resorts’ Melbourne casino after a NSW probe found the gaming giant suffered “corporate arrogance”.
While James Packer’s Crown Resorts was found to be unsuitable to run a casino at Barangaroo, it was told it could “achieve a fresh start” with some radical changes.