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Crown Inquiry LIVE updates: James Packer concedes link to banned businessman Stanley Ho

Summary

  • Inquiry is investigating probity issues at casino giant Crown Resorts 
  • Commissioner Patricia Bergin will report on whether Crown is fit to keep the licence for its new casino at Sydney’s Barangaroo
  • James Packer, who owns 36 per cent of Crown, admitted he sent "shameful" and "disgraceful" emails threatening a businessman looking to make a privatisation offer for the casino group
  • Other issues raised at the inquiry include Crown going into business with figures linked organised crime, money laundering at its Melbourne and Perth casinos, and the arrest of 19 staff in China in 2016
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Recap of this morning's hearing: Packer pleads ignorance, blames execs, but concedes Stanley Ho link

By Patrick Hatch

Let’s recap today’s hearings so far.

James Packer spent the morning insisting he knew nothing about the risks Crown was taking in China ahead of 19 Crown staff being arrested there in 2016 for illegally promoting gambling.

Packer, who was Crown’s chairman up to August 2015, blamed this on former chief executive Rowen Craigie and chairman Robert Rankin who "let the side down".

But the inquiry had already heard how Crown insiders loyal to Packer knew about the warning signs, which included that Chinese police had detained and questioned a Crown employee in mid 2015, shortly after the arrest of employees of a South Korean casino, and that Crown's staff said they lived in "constant fear" of being arrested.

The insiders were Michael Johnston (who worked for Packer’s private company CPH and represented Packer on Crown’s board), the boss of Crown’s VIP division Barry Felstead (who Packer said was "completely loyal" to him); and Packer’s one-time "special assistant" Ishan Ratnam.

"Are you sure it’s true that none of those men told you at the time about the questioning of the staff member in Wuhan, coming so soon after the Korean arrests?” counsel assisting Adam Bell asked.

Packer: I’m sure.

Bell: In the circumstances, is it likely that you were told about those matters but you’ve forgotten?

Packer: No I would have emailed Mr Craigie and Mr Rankin in the first instance and said, ‘what’s happening?’, or asked for an explanation.

James Packer giving evidence on Wednesday.

The other big take-out was that Packer knew an entity called Great Respect Limited had taken a 20 per cent ownership stake in the Hong Kong casino group Melco by the time he agreed to sell $1.7 billion worth of his Crown shares to Melco in May last year.

Through Great Respect, a family trust, the deal gave an indirect stake in Crown to the Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho. Crown’s Sydney casino licence says the group must stop Stanley Ho from taking any interest in Crown because of his alleged links to organised crime. It also bans Great Respect.

Why Packer went ahead with the deal anyway, putting the licence for Crown’s new $2.2 billion casino at Barangaroo at risk, is what we expect the inquiry will drill down into after the break.

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