“Current levels of AML/CTF[anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing] compliance are at best 5-10 per cent for the approximately 770 clubs in NSW that are full reporting entities under AML/CTF legislation,” the document says.
Troy Stolz,who was in charge of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance at ClubsNSW between 2014 and September last year,said many clubs were failing to institute the most basic anti-money laundering/counter terrorism financing requirements,such as having training and procedures in place so staff could track and report suspicious activities.
“If the local butcher is gambling like James Packer,they should know,” he said.
Mr Stolz said poker machine note acceptors could take $32,000 in cash,and staff should be trained to identify people who were filling machines,playing them for a short time and then withdrawing their winnings.
According to briefings he had received from police agencies,people engaged in money laundering could carry as much as $80,000 in their pockets or $250,000 in a child’s backpack,and were willing to lose up to 30 per cent of their cash in order to launder it.
He said when reports of suspicious transactions were made to the goverment’s financial intelligence agency,the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC),it rarely acted.