Roman Quaeedvlieg being the first witness of the hearing
The hearing for Crown casino is scheduled for this week. The hearing will be concerning the corrupted statements and agency’s treatment of the casino. The first witness called to the public hearing is expected to be the former Australian Border Force boss Roman Quaedvlieg.
The Pre-History
For Quaedvlieg it is not the first time to be under the public discussion, as he has previously been removed from the responsibility for his misbehavior in March of the last year over allegations he denies. He insists on being pushed by two ministers and another MP to assist in smoothing the way through border security for Crown’s Chinese high-rollers. This is corruption and crime that can be a serious issue of security tackled by the government.
There are reports stating that the former Australian Border Force boss has not only been involved in misbehavior. But also has been convicted in the assisting the Interpol’s wanted listing, individual, who represented Crown’s operator. According to Nine newspapers, Quadvlieg was the one who secured him on the journey, for what he got quite a valid amount of money.
There will be held an annual meeting of shareholders in Melbourne on Thursday, where the ongoing questions and issues concerning the investigation will be discussed and tackled. Tuesday’s ACLEI hearing will be the first of its type, which investigates allegations relating to federal law enforcement officials, that has held in public in its 13-year history.
The Commission Body
The commission leading the meeting will be presented by Australian Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Michael Griffin, the current border force deputy commissioner Mandy Newton and the first assistant secretary of Petter Dutton’s home affairs department, Peta Dunn. the big responsibility is on the shoulders of those people, attending the hearing on Thursday.
The meeting promises several issues to be defined, such as the interaction between the Department of Home Affairs and Crown Casino, as well as public interest in the matters, particularly in the investigation.
Besides Nine newspapers, ACLEI is one of the agencies that has been actively involved in the investigation process. The interesting part begins when the Crown has been denying all of the allegations proposed by Nine, with the entire board standing on the position of false accuses based on the exaggerations as well as unsupported connections and unsubstantiated allegations. In addition to blaming Nine in false accuses, Crown denies ever avoiding any kind of Visa requirement fulfillment.
Now that, the new director for the company is seeking, there has not been a lot of time passed since several figures showed up for the mentioned position. The list consists of former Howard-era minister for communications Helen Coonan, the former Australian Football League boss Andrew Demetriou and the advertising guru Harold Mitchell. The last two mentioned are both convicted to court, due to failed training and disqualification. While mentioning two convicted, in Victoria, which is home to Crown’s biggest casino, the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulations has two ongoing investigations.
Investigation
The first topic has been opened for two years already, aiming at the jailing of 19 casino staff members, for gambling promotion crimes by Chinese authorities in 2016. The second ongoing topic is due to allegations raised by Nine and others. The investigation is ongoing, as some of the additional information and evidence still might be linked.
The investigation conducted by New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority inquiry run by the former judge Patricia Bergin will touch the subject on the decision of selling 20% of Crown to the Hong Kong billionaire Lawrence Ho’s Melco with the Barangaroo license. This can be the continuation of the story of the promotion crimes by Chinese Authorities, especially while taking into consideration the fact that the Ho family is banned from involvement from Barangaroo over allegations the father Ho has linked to triad organized crome, that, of course, have been denied.
By the Crown’s case, there were several other topics raised within the government concerning the crimes in casinos, which are taken care of by Australian Criminal Intelligence Commissions as well as by anti-money laundering agency Austrac.