"I won’t be going on the board again. I think the board will be more independent than it was in the past,"he said.
Mr Packer has had no official role with the company since he stepped off its board in 2018. Mr Packer is,however,a"close associate"of Crown under NSW casino laws because of his large shareholding,which requires him to be a person of"good repute".
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It was to that end the inquiry examined on Tuesday a series of threatening emails Mr Packer sent to a Melbourne businessman in 2015 – which he agreedwere "shameful" and "disgraceful" and attributed to his bipolar disorder,for which he was now being treated – as well as his ongoing influence over management.
Mr Packer has been looking to exit his investment in Crown over the past five years,considering several possible takeover and merger offers. He offloaded a 10 per cent stake in the company last year.
Mr Packer told the inquiry he learnt about casino junkets – which help Chinese high-rollers get around the country's tight capital controls and gamble at overseas casinos – through Crown's Macau joint venture with Melco Resorts which operated between 2004 and 2017.
After seeing the success of working with junkets there,Mr Packer said he decided to use them to bring high-rollers to Crown's Australian casinos in an attempt to steal some of Macau's VIP market.
Mr Packer said he could only recall meeting two of Crown's junket partners:Suncity boss Alvin Chau,who is an alleged former triad member and money launderer who isbanned from enteringAustralia; and Song Zezhai,whoallegedly ran an organised crime racket in eastern China.
Mr Packer was asked whether he placed enough importance on Crown only dealing with people"of good repute"during his time at its executive chairman (2007 to 2015) and as a director (2017 to 2018).
"Not with the benefit of hindsight,"Mr Packer said. He also accepted"some''of the responsibility for the risky culture in Crown's VIP business.
Mr Packer said that while he had intended to leverage Crown's Macau connection and use junkets to bring high rollers to its Sydney casino,he did not accept junkets were"key to the financial viability"of the casino. Crown only ever expected international high-rollers to contribute about a third of the new casino's profits,he said. And it would now fall well short of his promise to the government it would triple Sydney's share of the global high-roller casino market.
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Mr Packer agreed on Thursday that his"powerful personality"may have contributed to a corporate culture when he was Crown's executive chairman in which underlings did not share bad news and only wanted to please their boss and major shareholder.
"I’d never thought about it before,"Mr Packer told Commissioner Bergin.
"Perhaps you're right,"he said.
Mr Packer also said on Thursday that,with the benefit of hindsight,it reflected poorly on Crown's board of directors that they attacked last year's media reports in a full-page ad and ASX release which has been shown to be riddled with errors.
"The directors had been given incorrect information,"Mr Packer said."With the benefit of hindsight,I agree it reflects poorly."
Former Crown director Ben Brazil told the inquiry on Thursday he had asked the board to put in a place a review after the arrests of 19 Crown staff in China in 2016 to get to the bottom of what went wrong. However,the ex Macquarie banker was unable to say what happened to that review given he left the board in 2017,just months after the arrests.
The inquiry will continue its public hearings on Friday,with adman and Crown director Harold Mitchell set to give evidence. Commissioner Bergin is due to report her recommendations to the government by February 1. The NSW government has the option to withdraw Crown's licence or apply additional conditions. However that could trigger a massive compensation payout under the terms of Crown's sweetheart deal signed in 2014 toopen Sydney's second casino.