Commissioner Ray Finkelstein QC,said he was finding misconduct by Crown “wherever I look”.
“I see evidence of misconduct or unacceptable behaviour from people high-up and low down and in-between,” he said while questioning Crown Melbourne chief executive Xavier Walsh on the first day of the inquiry’s final week of hearings.
“Wherever I look I see not just bad conduct but illegal conduct,improper conduct,unacceptable conduct and it permeates the whole organisation.”
Commissioner Finkelstein said that has included junior hotel staff filling out fakeinvoices so Chinese patrons could illegally buy casino chips on their credit cards;probable money launderers bringing huge bundles of cash into the casino without intervention;and senior executives concealing aprobable tax underpayment to Victoria of up to $272 million.
“What do I do about that?” he asked.
Mr Walsh said there had been “enormous change” in the company following the Bergin inquiry in NSW last year,which foundCrown unfit to hold its Sydney casino licence and triggered a mass exodus of directors and executives.
Xavier Walsh,CEO of Crown Melbourne,giving evidence to Victoria’s royal commission into the casino on Monday,July 5 2021.
But Commissioner Finkelstein said that rather than just a personnel change,Crown needed to properly reflect on how things had gone so badly wrong at the company and change “the way people have done business within the organisation at all levels probably for the last 20 years”.