“We found them very adversarial during the whole of the inquiry… Their mindset wasn’t anywhere near cooperative in terms of getting the job done,” he said, adding Chairman Ben Heap had since proved he was a “decent” person who was genuinely trying to remediate the group, as demonstrated by his letter to shareholders last month.
“They need to do a root cause analysis and we want to see a much more thorough investigation of the cultural issues at the engine room driving this company,” Crawford continued.
Monday is also the first day on the job for the casino giant’s new chief executive Robbie Cooke. Crawford said he is confident the former Tyro Payments boss will be able to work with Weeks to steer a new chapter for the formerly “leaderless” casino.
“We’ve been impressed with his reputation and when we met with him, but he only arrives today, there was no way we wouldn’t have taken action by appointing a manager. They have a lot of work to do,” Crawford said, adding Weeks was the “best person in the country” to manage the group having formerly worked as the executive manager of rival Crown Resorts’ transformation and regulatory response.
New Star boss Robbie Cooke started in the role on Monday. Credit:James Alcock
The Bell report followed a public inquiry sparked by an investigation by the Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes that alleged the casino enabled suspected money laundering, organised crime, large-scale fraud and foreign interference for years despite its board being warned money laundering controls were failing.
Cooke said last week that watching the revelations uncovered by the Bell inquiry and the Gotterson inquiry into Star’s Queensland operations had been “confronting”.
“The business had lost its way in a number of areas, but I’m committed to rehabilitating it and restoring the group to suitability [to hold its casino licences],” Cooke said.
In response to the report, the casino group said it was willing to do “whatever necessary” to restore its suitability as an operator and appointed an independent monitor as well as committing to a cultural overhaul.
The renewal plan, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024, will be run by an executive sponsor and tracked by international law firm Allen & Overy, which will act as the group’s independent monitor.
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