Star witnesses have not yet appeared before the inquiry .Credit:Bloomberg
The inquiry into whether Star is fit to hold a casino license was triggered by an investigation byThe Sydney Morning Herald,The Age and60 Minutes last October alleging the group was dealing with wealthy gamblers linked to criminal organisations,and had a lax approach to its anti-money laundering obligations.
Michael Whytcross,Star’s general manager of finance and commercial told the inquiry on Tuesday at least $76 million was transferred to Star through a back channel over nine months in 2018 and 2019. The back channel was set up after the Bank of China shut down Star’s Macau bank account for “compliance reasons” and no other bank would let it accept such large cash deposits in the Chinese gambling hub.
The inquiry heard that Star overcame this “significant challenge” through an agreement with Kuan Koi - who worked with the controversial and now-banned “junkets” that brought Chinese high-rollers to the Star - allowing patrons to deposit millions of cash into his Macau bank accounts,which he would then transfer to The Star on their behalf from an Australian bank.
Under questioning,Mr Whytcross agreed that there was nothing in Star’s agreement with Mr Koi requiring him to follow standard anti-money laundering processes,such as “know your customer” checks. Mr Koi would not want to register with Australia’s anti-money laundering agency AUSTRAC,he said,which could have obliged him to monitor and report transactions to the watchdog.
“Is it because this is a bit dodgy?,” Counsel assisting the inquiry,Naomi Sharp,SC,asked.
“No,I would not agree with that,” he responded,adding that junket operators disliked “paperwork”.
Adam Bell,SC,who is running the licence review,asked if the real reason was that junket operators “didn’t want the kind of scrutiny that would be involved if they registered with AUSTRAC”.