Perth rich lister Tim Roberts did not disclose his friendship with Crown’s largest shareholder, James Packer, after being appointed to the Burswood Limited board.
Perth rich lister Tim Roberts did not disclose his friendship with Crown’s largest shareholder, James Packer, after being appointed to the Burswood Limited (aka Crown Peth) board, he has told the Perth Casino Royal Commission.
Mr Roberts, Crown Perth’s former director of 13 years, told the commission he was a friend of Mr Packer’s when he joined the board in 2005 and even attended his wedding the following year.
But he told the commission his relationship with Mr Packer wasn’t the reason he joined the board, adding that he, one of three heirs of construction giant Multiplex, had expertise in construction that would be relevant to a then-impending $1.1 billion expansion of the casino and facilities.
Mr Roberts did concede, however, that he had no prior qualifications, experience or expertise in casino operations at the time of his appointment, nor did he seek to educate himself about money laundering and tourism financing in that context.
While being questioned by commissioner Lindy Jenkins, Mr Roberts also admitted to not having read the NSW inquiry’s findings, but said he was alarmed to hear it had found the company had engaged in money laundering and entered into commercial relationships with junket operators with links to organised crime groups on his watch.
Much like former Crown Resorts director John Poynton, Mr Roberts said there were no red flags that indicated criminal activity may have been occuring.
But he rejected the assertion that the Burswood Limited board was not taking the lead role in regards to setting strategy and management of risk for the Burswood Group, telling the commission that managing risk was “front and centre” for the board, which undertook assurances that risk was well managed.
Mr Roberts told the commission he could not recall a single instance in which a breach of policy or a compliance matter had raised a red flag, based on the reports the board was receiving from the Executive Risk Compliance Committee.
While counsel assisting Nick Werner highlighted that the absence of red flags could mean there was not an adequate audit of internal policies, Mr Roberts dismissed that assessment as speculation.
“The board was very, as I saw it, astute to risk management and was going through the audit reports themselves,” he said.
“My recollection was that they were incredibly thorough and provided deep analysis across entire casino operations of risk review.
“They were also supported by other legal and compliance reports; which were consistent with the ERCC reports.”
Like the two witnesses before him, Burswood Limited director Maryna Fewster and Mr Poynton, Mr Roberts was asked whether he believed four one-hour meetings annually was sufficient for a company responsible for the Perth Casino.
He stated he believed that provided ample time to oversee the operations of the casino.
He also defended his decision to attend the majority of meetings held between 2013 and 2018 via telephone, arguing that it had no bearing on his ability to execute his duties as a board member.
He added that the board minutes reflected only what had transpired during the hour-long meetings, and did not take into account “substantive” discussions prior to all board meetings with other directors regarding matters of concern.
Despite sitting on more than 10 boards from 2007, including ASX-listed mining giant Mineral Resources, and describing his roles as a near full-time occupation, Mr Roberts said he still had ample time to attend to the needs of Burswood Limited.
Though his memory of his 13-year tenure was hazy, Mr Roberts said he recalled the board agendas before each meeting being delivered in a timely fashion and that they were equipped with a thorough analysis of operations and compliance matters.
That evidence contradicted comments given by Ms Fewster yesterday, who told the commission she raised concerns on several occasions about the way the board was being run, with sloppy board agendas, infrequent meetings and an inability to provide real oversight of Crown Perth’s operations.
Next week, various current and former executives of the Crown group will also be questioned, including Crown’s chief legal officer Joshua Preston, chief executive Lonnie Bossi, senior executive Claude Marais, and executive Barry Felstead.
The second phase of the inquiry is expected to be conducted in four two-week blocks, the first of which will focus on corporate governance and operations of Crown Group’s Perth entities, issues affecting the suitability of those entities, matters outstanding from the May hearings and remediation efforts.
The commission hopes to complete the hearings by mid to late October, with closing statements by mid-December and a final report to be delivered by March 4 2022.
