Ex-Star CEO, Sydney boss under investigation

Mr Cooke will lead the second week of the so-called Bell 2 investigation, along with Nicholas Weeks, the manager of Star Sydney, which oversees the casino license.

The Australian previously revealed that Mr Weeks was in final talks to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer of Star’s Sydney casino – before the mass exit of the Star board and management following the publication of Adam’s report Bell SC on Star’s suitability. possession of a permit brought those negotiations to a standstill.

Also appearing this week will be Star Entertainment’s Chief Controls Officer, Rav Townsend; director of values ​​management, Attracta Lagan; former chief financial officer, Christina Katsibouba; former chief customer and product officer, George Hughes; former chief legal officer Betty Ivanoff; former corporate secretary, Nawal Silfani.

In addition, Peter Humphreys, interim COO of Star Sydney; patron liaison manager Ron Wagemans; and Risk Division Chief Eileen Vuong will testify.

Dr. Lagan, who was hired last year as a business ethics adviser, told the inquiry that she got the impression from both board level and Mr Cooke that they did not understand that they were operating in a regulated environment and did not recognize the problems. rights of the supervisor.

“This is very different from a free market environment,” Dr Lagan said. “They didn’t realize how that worked, and there was sometimes resentment against the directions we gave.”

Mr Wagemans told the inquiry that an audit of checks, which required customers to be approached and spoken to by casino staff if the gambling period lasted longer than three hours, revealed widespread falsification of data relating to the policy.

Ms Vuong agreed Star had systemic problems because guest support officers had recorded false entries suggesting customers who gambled for hours had been monitored when they had not.