Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2021年4月 亞博匯 23 封面故事 M ore than 14 months since New South Wales launched an inquiry into the conduct of Australian casino giant Crown Resorts, and almost three months after the final report by commissioner Patricia Bergin was handed down, Crown’s future remains as uncertain as ever. The findings of the Bergin Report have by now been well documented. With the NSW inquiry uncovering substantial gaps in the company’s anti- money laundering controls, evidence that Crown bank accounts had been infiltrated by organized crime syndicates in Asia, and the presence of undue influence on Crown’s Board of Directors by majority shareholder James Packer, Crown Resorts was found unsuitable to hold a casino license in NSW and prevented from opening its AU$2.2 billion Crown Sydney casino in December as originally planned. The Bergin Report also listed several steps Crown might take to convert to suitability, highlighting the fact that “many of the problems that rendered the licensee and Crown as unsuitable stem from poor corporate governance, deficient risk management structures and processes and a poor corporate culture.” Recommendations put forward to the state’s regulatory body – the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) – included a restructuring of the Crown board, forensic auditing of all Crown bank accounts, new rules around relationships with major shareholders (particularly Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings) and the implementation of better protections concerning AML and relationships with Asian junket operators. In consultation with the ILGA, many of those steps are now well underway. Most notable has been the departure of five former Crown directors singled out 自 澳洲新南威爾斯州（「新州」）開始對澳洲博彩業 巨擘皇冠度假酒店集團的行為展開調查以來 已經過去了14個月，但就在調查專員Patricia Bergin的最終報告發佈的近三個月後，皇冠的 未來像之前一樣充滿了不確定性。 截至目前，《Bergin Report》的調查已經得到充分的證明。新 州調查發現皇冠在反洗錢管控方面存在重大漏洞，有證據證明 皇冠的銀行賬戶已經被亞洲有組織犯罪滲透，以及皇冠的大股東 James Packer對皇冠的董事會存在不當影響，因而皇冠度假酒店 集團被認定不適格持有新州賭場牌照，並被禁止按原計劃於去年 12月啟用其投資了22億澳元的Crown Sydney賭場。 《Bergin Report》還列出了皇冠為達到適格性可以採取的若 干步驟，並指出「許多導致持牌人及皇冠不適格的問題，淵源於混 亂的公司治理、有所欠缺的風險管理架構，以及糟糕的企業文化。」 由該州監管機構——新州獨立酒業及博彩管理局（ILGA）給 出的建議，包括重組皇冠董事會、對皇冠的所有銀行賬戶進行司 法審計、圍繞與主要股東的關係制定新的規章（尤其是Packer的 Consolidated Press Holdings（CPH）公司，以及就有關反洗錢及 與亞洲博彩中介人的關係制定更好的預防措施。 在與I LGA協商之後，許多步驟現正有序進行中。其中 最為引人注意的是Be rg i n點名的五位前皇冠董事——Guy Jalland、Michael Johnston、Andrew Demetriou、Harold Mitchell及John Poynton——外加行政總裁Ken Barton，以及總 法律顧問Mary Manos已經相繼離職。截至本文落筆時，皇冠董事 會僅剩下四名董事，其中包括Helen Coonan，在皇冠尋找新的行 政總裁期間，由她來擔任執行主席。 負責評估皇冠為達到新州適格性要求所作努力的ILGA主席 Philip Crawford向《亞博匯》表示，他與Coonan定期保持聯繫——