Steve McCann has been appointed Chief Executive Officer
In a statement authorised for release by the Board of Directors, Crown Resorts Limited refers to its announcement of 3 August 2021, and has announced that Steve McCann has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Crown Melbourne Limited (Crown Melbourne), in addition to his role as Chief Executive Officer Crown Resorts – pending regulatory approvals.
Underlining the importance of Crown Melbourne to the business, Mr McCann will relocate from Sydney to Melbourne as soon as practicable and subject to COVID-19 interstate travel restrictions.
McCann succeeds Xavier Walsh, whose departure was announced earlier this month. Walsh will still remain with the business until 9 December, in keeping with the terms of his contract. Walsh’s departure has coincided with an inquiry into Crown Melbourne’s operations, which is ongoing, that has heard evidence that Crown is “not a suitable licensee” to operate in the state, as well as breaches of anti-money laundering rules, Crown was found to be circumventing Chinese currency restrictions with a ‘voucher for chips’ exchange system with VIP customers.
The Melbourne inquiry followed the New South Wales-based Bergin inquiry which led to the resignation of former Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton. Here it was found that Crown Resorts had further ties to money laundering as well as dealings with junkets with criminal connections.
This led to Crown being deemed unsuitable to hold a licence to operate a casino at Barangaroo in central Sydney. Last week, New South Wales implemented all of the recommendations from this inquiry, including the creation of a new regulator.
