The inquiry heard on Thursday and Friday that The Star then mislead NAB about the nature of the transactions when the bank raised concerns in 2019,in responses Star staff said were formulated at a “senior management level”,including chieffinancial officer Harry Theodore.
Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson,SC,said the evidence suggested The Star had acted “very deliberately” and repeatedly to facilitate the transactions,which cast its suitability to hold a casino licence into doubt.
“Casinos… have got to run at the highest level of probity. There are sure signs now that company was not doing that,” said Mr Watson,a former counsel assisting the Independent Commission Against Corruption. “What happened yesterday means this company needs to explain why it wasn’t facilitating serious crime.”
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Mr Watson predicted that in the same way heads needed to roll at Crown Resorts after damning inquiries into its Sydney and Melbourne casinos licences,there would be a major overhaul of The Star’s management. “It’s too endemic – they’ll have to just start again,” he said.
A fund manager at a major Australian investment fund,who does not currently own Star shares but watches the company closely,said based on the evidence presented,it was inevitable some senior executives and directors would have to leave the company.
“There will be a fall-out but how deep it is,who knows?” said the fund manager,who spoke on the condition of anonymity so he could share his views freely.