Despite being a close friend of James Packer and an important part of the Crown Resorts’ board, John Alexander was not able to reveal during the New South Wales (NSW) casino inquiry in the gambling giant’s operations the reason why Mr Packer left the company’s board.
The billionaire investor in Crown Resorts left his role as a chairman of the Australian casino operator in August 2015 and took a director’s position for a brief period before finally left the company by the end of that year. Packer, actually, returned as a director for a while in 2017, at the time when John Alexander took over the executive chairman’s position.
As part of the questioning phase of the inquiry, yesterday Mr Alexander said that he was unable to recall if he had asked Crown Resorts’ billionaire investor what were the reasons for his decision to leave the company’s board at a time when he held almost half of the casino giant’s shares (46%).
Patricia Bergin SC asked Mr Alexander if he had any idea why a director had decided to step down, to which he answered he believed that Mr Packer was willing to concentrate on restructuring his interests in the Australian casino operator. Then he added that he could not really recall whether James Packer told him the reasons for his decision, despite him being his close personal friend.
John Alexander Was Never Director at Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings
Back in December 2015, Crown Resorts issued a statement revealing that James Packer is to assume a new role at the casino company. During the inquiry, Mr Alexander shared that he could not remember whether that actually happened. He said that the objective of the move was to drive more opportunities for the gambling operator on a global scale.
Mr Alexander is involved in the investigation because he was deputy chairman of the company and then was appointed at the position of executive chairman during a crucial period for the gambling operator that is now subject to a probe by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority. Apart from that, he was a close friend of Packer and a major figure overseeing the billionaire investor’s casino interests at the time. Regardless of the fact he never was a director at Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH), the private company of James Packer, he was a long-time employee there.
As Casino Guardian already reported, the NSW Liquor and Gaming Authority’s inquiry follows allegations that emerged in a number of local media hubs that the Australian casino giant pretended it did not notice money laundering that took place at its Crown Melbourne casino. The investigation is also associated with allegations of links with criminal organisations through junket operators Crown Resorts had a business relationship with.
So-called junket operators, also known as junkets, are companies that are engaged with bringing affluent gamblers to casinos. Usually, they share in the gambling profits with the casinos, and in some cases, are allowed to operate their own high-roller rooms withing the casino venues.
Mr Alexander has faced in-depth questioning about what he knew of the arrangements that Crown Resorts had with its China staff who were taken into custody and jailed by Chinese authorities in October 2016 due to violation of the anti-gambling legislation of China. Under Chinese law, people are suspended from soliciting local citizens to travel overseas to gamble.
- Author
Olivia Cole
