Star Entertainment's outgoing executive chairman has told an inquiry it was a "mistake" to appoint some of the company's executives to senior positions they were not qualified for.
John O'Neill today resumed giving evidence at an inquiry by the NSW gaming regulator into the company's suitability to run its casino in Sydney.
He named three of the Star's executives — including compliance manager Graeme Stevens, chief legal and risk officer Paula Martin and investigations officer Kevin Houlihan — as employees who were promoted to roles "beyond their competencies".
"They [the executives] were promoted to bigger and bigger roles over time," he said.
"With the benefit of hindsight, the organisation should have given more thought into training and upskilling them for that role."
He also told the inquiry he did not believe Ms Martin had the "specialist skills" needed to be appointed to the position of legal and risk compliance officer.
"She didn't have sufficient background and experience in the risk and compliance space," he said.
"They asked too much of her to cover the full suite of responsibilities."
Mr O'Neill's public grilling by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority comes four days after he announced his resignation.
The inquiry has heard allegations of money laundering, fraud and criminal infiltration at the Pyrmont casino.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Naomi Sharp SC, questioned Mr O'Neill about why a damning 2018 independent audit report was withheld from the financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC for over a year.
The inquiry heard the KPMG report had found "significant shortcomings" in the Star's anti money laundering and counterterrorism financing program.
Ms Sharp said AUSTRAC was denied a copy of the report, despite requesting it from the company multiple times.
"It took four letters and a phone call from AUSTRAC to receive the report," she said.
The inquiry heard Star Entertainment had claimed legal professional privilege over the report, which would prevent it from being released to AUSTRAC.
Ms Sharp said AUSTRAC told the company it had "no basis" to make this claim as KPMG had stated that its services "exclude the provision of legal advice".
Mr O'Neill admitted it amounted to "inappropriate and unacceptable" conduct by the Star and demonstrated a "lack of transparency".
At least 10 members of the company's board have resigned since the public inquiry began in March.
Yesterday, Mr O'Neill said he was stepping down from the board because he believed it was "in the best interests of the company".
He described the inquiry as a "cathartic moment" for the organisation, adding that the spate of resignations was necessary to provide "as much cleansing as possible".
Star Entertainment has named Ben Heap as its new interim chairman.
