Media allegations in 2019 that Crown Resorts' casinos had facilitated money laundering and organised crime came as a "complete shock", the gambling giant's deputy chair John Horvath says.
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Professor Horvath has been testifying by video-link for a second day to a NSW inquiry investigating Crown's suitability to run a new casino at Sydney's Barangaroo.
The allegations published by 60 Minutes and Fairfax newspapers were part of the impetus for the inquiry.
The allegations "were not consistent with my understanding of how we conducted our business," said Prof Horvath, who has sat on Crown's board since 2010 and was formerly the Commonwealth chief medical officer.
Prof Horvath said he stood by the company's denial - expressed in a full-page advertisement taken out shortly after the 60 Minutes program aired - that it turned a blind eye to money laundering.
Evidence before the inquiry has suggested the advertisement contained numerous inaccuracies, and Professor Horvath said he had relied on management's advice to the board when he signed off on it.
The inquiry heard on Wednesday that a strategy paper provided to the board by management in December 2019 identified the tightening of anti-money laundering regulations and closure of bank accounts as "threats" to the company's VIP business.
Prof Horvath gave evidence that the company had worked to improve its culture of compliance and that its risk appetite had changed.
He said he had completed anti-money laundering training "about two weeks ago", but previously considered briefings provided to the board to be sufficient.
Prof Horvath admitted that he had not seen two Crown-owned bank accounts which were reported in the press in August 2019 to have been suspected by the authorities to have been used by drug traffickers for money laundering.
"Once that article was published... corporate governance would require, on one view of it, that the company said, 'this is serious, they're making allegations that we're turning a blind eye to money laundering, let's have a look'," inquiry commissioner Patricia Bergin suggested.
Numerous other directors and senior executives have told the inquiry they had not looked into the accounts after the report.
Prof Horvath, who was Kerry Packer's personal physician for many years, said he intends to stand for reappointment to the board at its annual general meeting on October 22.
Crown Resorts chair, former Australian senator Jane Halton, is due to give evidence on Wednesday afternoon.
Ms Bergin is expected to complete a report by early 2021.
Australian Associated Press
