Star senior manager misappropriated gambling money, inquiry hears

The New South Wales inquiry into Star Entertainment has been told that a senior manager transferred a payment from a junket operator into his own account before disappearing.

Australia.- In a new day of public hearings into Star Entertainment’s suitability to run its Sydney casino, the New South Wales inquiry has heard that a senior manager allegedly transferred more than AU$13m in gaming funds from junkets into his own account before “disappearing” in 2020.

Meanwhile, Marcus Lim, another member of staff in the VIP area, was accused of receiving kickbacks and making corrupt payments. However, despite an investigation, Lim was allowed to remain on “gardening leave” for six months..

Former Star chief executive Matt Bekier rejected suggestions that VIP team misconduct was “out of control”.

Counsel assisting Naomi Sharp SC, asked Bekier if the company had tried to get rid of Lim quietly to avoid making any disclosures of seriously inappropriate conduct of a senior manager at Star Entertainment group. Bekier denied the accusation but admited that the VIP team was the most vulnerable to exploitation due to its massive turnover.

Sharp said: “Just at the point in the business where the flow of money was at its highest, and where the [anti-money laundering] risks were the greatest, and where the integrity risks to the casino were the greatest, senior management completely dropped the ball … didn’t it?”

Bekier replied: “I wouldn’t agree with the characterisation that we completely dropped the ball.”

Previously, Matt Bekier told the inquiry he was disappointed by the Sydney casino’s management and blamed the failure of the international VIP business on the venue’s “subculture”.

Bekier said: “The dark art of acquiring customers, to convince them to fly long range and gamble in our casinos … settle and collect the money. That’s very different from the rest of our business.”

Sharp asked Bekier who had let him down, asking him to assess former colleagues who had testified to the inquiry. Bekier said that chief legal and risk officer Paula Martin was “extremely talented” but tried to solve problems herself rather than escalate them.

Of Oliver White, Star Entertainment’s in-house lawyer, he said: “I trusted him, and he would have had the currency to come to me and escalate any problem to me and I would have listened.”