The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has said it had an agreement with Crown to \u201cfacilitate quick visa processing of short-stay visas,\u201d as it did with many companies that were major contributors to the Australian economy.<\/p>\n
But the watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (ACLEI), is looking into whether anyone at the DHA or the Australian Border Force conspired with Crown Resorts to fast-track criminals into the country.<\/p>\n
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It will also examine how Border Force official Andrew Ure came to be moonlighting as a bodyguard to a wealthy junket operator called Tom Zhou \u2013 known as \u201cMr. Chinatown\u201d — who worked with Crown Resorts and is wanted by Interpol for serious criminal conduct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Zhou has been charged by Chinese authorities with major corporate fraud, and is mentioned in civil cases in China as having used extortion and violence against business associates.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Crown Resorts claims the media reports are \u201csensationalized\u201d and \u201cdeceitful,\u201d and has said the public hearings will be a chance to offer its perspective.<\/p>\n
Crown notes that junket operators are independent third parties that deal with the casino industry across the world, not just Crown properties. The company said it complies with global anti-money laundering directives and denied that it has ever \u201csought to circumvent visa requirements or compromise any process of identification or verification for immigration purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia\u2019s anti-corruption watchdog is to quiz current and former federal government officials at a series of public hearings next week as part of its investigation into the \u201cvisas for high rollers\u201d scandal involving Crown Resorts. Among them will be Roman Quaedvlieg, a former Australian Border Force commissioner who was fired from his position last year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":118042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Australian Federal Officials to Testify in Crown Resorts Graft Investigation<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n