Almost a year to the day after it was established, the Perth Casino Royal Commission has delivered its final report.
However, the WA government has yet to say when it will publish the report's findings.
It comes four months after its original November 2021 deadline, which was extended at the request of the trio of commissioners — Neville Owen, Lindy Jenkins and Colin Murphy — who frequently mentioned during hearings the pressures of their tight schedule.
The inquiry into Crown Perth is the latest in a long line of heavyweight investigations into alleged money laundering, criminal infiltration and problem gambling at Crown's casinos in recent years.
Just last week, the financial crimes watchdog, AUSTRAC, served Crown Perth and Crown Melbourne with an 863-page statement of claim after its own investigation.
In meticulous detail, it outlines 547 alleged breaches of Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
That document alleged the Crown private jet was frequently used to fly overseas gamblers and their money, such as in 2016 when 12 people arrived in Perth with large amounts of cash which, AUSTRAC alleges, was not monitored appropriately.
It also claimed one gambler, known as Customer 29, had many aliases, was a member of foreign political organisations, presented two different passports to Crown Perth and engaged in plenty of suspicious transactions.
Between October 2016 and August 2017, his junket had a turnover of $310 million at the casino.
He was given access to the Crown private jet to fly between different countries, carrying big amounts of money.
But for many years, AUSTRAC alleges, there were no red flags raised about the source of his wealth, his transactions were not closely watched and he was not rated as a high-risk customer by Crown Perth until February 2019.
In a third example, another person known as Customer 31, lost almost $28 million at Crown Perth between 2003 and 2020.
He had a senior position in an overseas state-run organisation, had been arrested over bribery charges and was believed to be a "crime lord" of drug, prostitution, gambling and extortion operations.
AUSTRAC alleges Crown Perth did not adequately examine whether the source of Customer 31's wealth was legitimate and monitor his transactions, which included many examples of cuckoo smurfing, a form of money laundering to hide the original source of the money.
Penalties risk US takeover bid
The penalty for each breach is between $18 million and $22.2 million.
If AUSTRAC's case in the Federal Court is successful, the total fine awarded could jeopardise the planned takeover of Crown by US private equity giant Blackstone Inc.
Under the proposed terms of the deal lodged with the ASX, fines of more than $750 million could allow Blackstone to get out of the deal.
But the Blackstone deal also needs the approval of state gambling regulators, including WA's Gaming and Wagering Commission (GWC).
A Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries spokesperson said Blackstone applied to be considered for probity approval in December last year.
"The probity investigation is currently ongoing," the spokesperson said.
As part of this process, the GWC will investigate whether Blackstone and its associates are suitable people to run a casino, looking at their reputation and financial status.
Another factor which could influence the Blackstone deal was any drastic recommendations, which the WA Government agrees to implement, from the Perth royal commission report.
Release of report findings unknown
While copies have been given to WA Governor Kim Beazley and Premier Mark McGowan, the WA Government would not say when it will release it.
Racing and Gaming Minister Tony Buti – the third minister in this portfolio since the bombshell Bergin report was released in February last year – said the government would closely consider, respond to and table the report in the WA Parliament "after a period of consideration".
The WA Parliament will next sit on March 15.
The Victorian Government took 11 days to release the report of its royal commission, which found Crown was unsuitable to hold a casino licence.
This report, along with the findings of the Bergin inquiry in NSW, outlined a litany of corporate governance failings and conduct that was "variously illegal, dishonest, unethical and exploitative".
But the corporate watchdog has decided, after a lengthy investigation, to not pursue action against Crown directors and executives.
ASIC's chair Joe Longo explained the reasons for the decision to an Australian Institute of Company directors conference last week.
"The evidence, the age of the matter, the knowledge of the directors at the time in all the circumstances, there wasn't an actionable case against the directors," he said.
"Now that was our call and it falls to me to be able to talk about it as much as I can today.
"But there's definitely a difference between what a royal commission or inquiry comes up with and what is actionable."
