Melco Resorts must hand over proprietary internal documents to investigators who will decide whether Crown Resorts may hold a gaming license in New South Wales, Australia.
Melco, under Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho, once planned to buy a 20 percent stake in James Packer’s Crown, with an eye toward acquiring a majority share of the company.
According to the Australian Leader, the NSW Court of Appeal found that Melco must produce the documents and overruled a Supreme Court judge who found the inquiry did not have the powers of a royal commission to request documents from witnesses or entities of interest.
“The primary judge erred in concluding that… the Royal Commission Act did not confer a ‘power or authority’ on a commissioner,” according to the appeals court. It found that the act confirmed that a commissioner could “exercise compulsory powers unfettered by claims of privilege.”
The NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) launched the inquiry last year, investigating Packer’s sale of a 20 percent stake in Crown to Melco. A series of reports from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and 60 Minutes indicated that Crown did business with figures linked to organized crime and money laundering.
At stake in the matter is Crown’s right to operate a $2.4 billion VIP casino, hotel and luxury apartment tower in Sydney, which is due to open early next year.
The inquiry, conducted by former Supreme Court Justice Patricia Bergin, was set to begin public hearings on February 24, and stalled when Melco won its challenge in the Supreme Court. It’s been further delayed by the Covid-19 outbreak.
“It is with regret that the public hearings of the inquiry will be deferred to a date to be fixed,” the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority was cited as saying.
