Crown Resorts’ chief legal officer Joshua Preston,giving evidence via video link,told the inquiry some staff were afraid of "unsavoury characters" linked to one of its junket partners.Credit:NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority
The government inquiry was launched following reports byThe Age,Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes last year that some of Crown's junket partners,who bring wealthy Chinese gamblers to its Australian casinos,had links to organised crime.
The reports revealed that the Hot Pot junket was linked to an international drug trafficking syndicate known as The Company and arranged for members of the gang to visits Crown's Perth Casino in 2015,where they turned over$800 million in the course of a few days.
Crown rejected the reports as being"unsubstantiated"and part of a"deceitful campaign"against the company.
Mr Preston on Wednesday told the inquiry he made inquiries over the past month into Mr Ng and what a senior member of Crown's international VIP division,Ari Lee,meant when he described Mr Ng in a 2015 email as a"very influential character" in Macau in regard to the "underground network".
Crown Resorts’ former head of VIP operations Jason O’Connor was imprisoned in China for 10 months.
Mr Preston said Mr Lee did not explain what the"underground network"was,but did tell him that Crown staff in Macau raised concerns about Mr Ng and his associates because they may have been"unsavoury types".
"They had concerns that if a cheque was going to be banked and if it bounced,they would be potentially concerned about some harassment,"Mr Preston said.