Page 4 - Naomi Sharp News Today

A top lawyer says he should have tried harder to stop a Chinese gambling operator with alleged links to organised crime from conducting banned transactions at The Star in Sydney.

One of Star’s top lawyers said there were “a number of occasions” where his privilege claims over internal documents and emails were “potentially incorrect”.

The Star Entertainment Group also failed to give the dirty money monitor access to bank accounts, an inquiry has heard.

A Star executive has admitted that gambling chips “act as cash but are easy to transport”. But the casino let patrons leave its premises with them anyway.

Alvin Chau, who enjoyed an $80 million cheque cashing facility at The Star, maintained his business with the casino despite warnings of links to triads.

The first version of a due diligence report into a junket operator linked him to organised crime. The second version described him as “a successful and astute businessman”.

Casino did not ask its head of financial crimes investigations to look into the source of his wealth, or why he was using multiple passports with different identities.

TodayHeadline Star boss denies ‘incredible incompetence’ –

Casino staff allegedly fabricated letters to mislead a bank about the source of customer funds.

Slater and Gordon claims that The Star’s allegedly widespread non-compliance with money laundering laws misled the market, breached continuous obligation laws, and almost halved its share price.