Inside Asian Gaming

IAG APR 2021年4月 亞博匯 29 封面故事 The obvious questions are: what do authorities in these states expect to find that NSW hasn’t already uncovered, and what remedial action could Crown take that it hasn’t already initiated? Time will tell on both fronts, however there is reason enough for Crown to at least feel somewhat uneasy about proceedings inVictoriawhere, unlike inWesternAustralia, the Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission state that the commissioner is not to rely on the results of the Bergin or other inquiries in conducting his investigations. “That opens up a field of endeavour for the commissioner to justify spending AU$10 million on an inquiry,” says David Green, a former gaming regulator in South Australia and long-time advisor to the Singapore and Macau governments. “My view is that they will likely drill hard into things that were largely left alone by Bergin.” Green anticipates one of the first ports of call will be Robert Rankin, the former Crown chairman who was on the board when 19 Crown employees were arrested in mainland China – 16 of them later jailed – in October 2016. Rankin, now based overseas, refused to appear at the NSW inquiry but can be compelled to do so under the powers of Victoria’s Royal Commission and could face jail time of his own should he duck and weave again. Also in the potential firing line is Coonan, who Green notes is married to former NSW Supreme Court judge Andrew Rogers. Bergin, a NSW Supreme Court judge herself from 1999 to 2017, would count Rogers as a mentor and succeeded him as Chief Judge in Equity from March 2009. “The Commission in Sydney really gave [Coonan] a pretty easy ride and I can speculate why that was,” Green says. “These people knew each other and I never saw a 「我認為，他們很可能會深入探究那些Bergin未能涉足的領 域。」 Green預測，前皇冠主席Robert Rankin可能是首批調查對象 之一，他在任董事會期間，2016年10月，有19名皇冠員工在中國內 地遭到逮捕，其中16人鋃鐺入獄。現居海外的Rankin拒絕了新州 的調查，但在維州皇家委員會的權力之下，他可能需要被迫接受， 如果他再次迴避和閃躲，可能面臨牢獄之災。 Coonan本人也是潛在的調查對象。Green指出她的配偶是新 州前最高法院法官Andrew Rogers。Bergin曾在1999年至2017年 間在新州最高法院擔任法官，她視Rogers為導師，並自2009年3月 接替他擔任首席衡平法官。 「悉尼的調查委員會的確令Coonan輕鬆過關，我可以理解 為甚麼會這樣，」Green表示，「這些人彼此認識，我沒看到Bergin 對此有任何披露。她當然沒有排除自己去聽取Coonan的證詞。」 「這些事情很重要。在維州，會有一個調查員去挖掘新的醜 聞，而就Coonan在過去9年間一直在皇冠董事會任職這一事實，可 能會引起更為強烈的質疑。維州有可能發現一些真正的東西，但西 澳州可能就不會，後者被允許使用Bergin的發現，並將Bergin所記 錄在案的大部分內容納入訴訟程序為前提展開調查。」