Xavier Walsh, Crown Melbourne chief executive, said the company underpaid its casino taxes for seven years, but that he only started investigating the day after Victoria’s Royal Commission into the company was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Australia.- Victoria\u2019s Royal Commission has heard that\u00a0Crown Melbourne may have underpaid its casino tax\u00a0<\/strong>for seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xavier Walsh<\/strong>, Crown Melbourne’s chief executive, admitted that he learned about the possibility in 2018 but only started investigating when Victoria’s Royal Commission into the casino operator was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked by former Federal Court judge\u00a0Raymond Finkelstein<\/strong>, who\u2019s leading the inquiry, on why he did nothing for almost three years, Walsh said he “took comfort” from knowing\u00a0senior Crown staff were aware of the issue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to ABC newspaper, Walsh raised the issue to former executive chairman,\u00a0Helen Coonan<\/strong>, once it was announced that the Royal Commission was to examine Crown’s suitability to hold a licence for its\u00a0casino in Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Current CEO,\u00a0Steve McCann<\/a>, also referred to the tax underpayment. He said that he wrote to the Victorian treasury conceding\u00a0that Crown had made illegal deductions<\/strong>\u00a0from its poker machine tax calculations since 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his letter, McCann suggested the company owes AU$8m, but the figure could be significantly higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commissioner Finkelstein\u00a0said that the letter made it seem McCann was \u201cshopping around for better advice”<\/strong>\u00a0and that he was perhaps looking to be “honest but not forthcoming or candid\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCann revealed that he learned about the\u00a0underpayment of gambling taxes\u00a0<\/strong>six days after he assumed his position as CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the inquiry, the CEO defended the company and said it was making changes to its structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: \u201cThere is a very significant population of Crown who are crying out for the ability to speak up, the ability to be involved, the ability to\u00a0restore the pride in the organisation that they used to feel<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nMcCann hopes to bring changes to Crown’s operations and structure<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n