AUSTRAC Highlights Shortcomings in Junket Operators Enforcement
An updated report by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC) exposed flaws in how junket operators are regulated and how well the regulator in Australia can deter money laundering and other crimes.
AUSTRAC Study Exposes Flaws In Overall Junket Control
A updated 2017 AUSTRAC report disclosed that Australia may fail to counter money laundering operations that originate from casino junket operators and deter corrupted funds from entering the country.
The regulator was aware, according to the paper, of the fact that the Asian junket operators and the high-roller VIP customers they carried posed a threat insofar as they were concerned with financing terrorism and money laundering.
The explanation for this is that much of the funds used in such gaming activities were not sufficiently supplied. In fact, the regulator claimed that casinos were left in the dark regarding deals reached between a junket company, players and any interested third parties.
Based on these results, the study concluded that this was an violation of the junket tour operator (JTO) arrangement, as it exposed obvious potential for money laundering and other financial crimes.
Casinos Not Trying To Move
However, when faced with the findings, casinos refused to respond or downplayed AUSTRAC's fears, the paper argued. The report comes at a time when the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA) is reviewing Crown Resorts on alleged irregularities in licensing affecting junket operators, and whether the property should have its license suspended or entirely revoked.
Based on ILGA's findings so far in the investigation, Crown's key junket affiliate, Suncity, may have ties to triads, asian criminal groups that dominate the gaming industry and participate in numerous illegal activities.
Crime syndicates may have used Crown's Melbourne and Perth assets to launder money, according to the inquiry. While AUSTRAC previously approved partnerships with the Crown Resorts junket operator, the regulator has changed tune.
Meanwhile, the Victoria Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) is awaiting a final report from independent probes – including ILGA's – before determining how to deal with Crown's problem.
In reality, Nicole Rose, Chief Executive of AUSTRAC said the requirements were dated depending on which conformity with the junket was measured. Rose claimed that it was impossible for AUSTRAC or anybody else to adequately control junket operators because of the existence of junkets, i.e. Those being held offshore.
Offer More Obligations To Operators
AUSTRAC has pointed to other shortcomings in the international system, arguing that casinos are actually relying on AML and KYC verifications from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, unlike the United Kingdom, where each operator would have a separate department for that.
In comparison, Rose claimed that Australia's main concern applies to money laundering rather than a wider approach to allegedly illegal practices that exist with the assistance of junket operators.
In other words, AUSTRAC is powerless to control junket operators leaving Australian casinos vulnerable to illicit financial transactions and being complicit accomplices.
