Christchurch Casino facing legal action over alleged anti-money laundering law breaches

Christchurch Casino is accused of alleged failures over a five-year period.

Christchurch Casino is facing court action after the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) accused it of breaching anti-money laundering and terrorism financing rules.

The DIA today said it filed civil proceedings at the High Court for alleged failures between December 2018 and December 2023.

“Christchurch Casino is not alleged to be directly involved in money laundering or the financing of terrorism,” the DIA said.

But it said all New Zealand reporting entities, including casinos, had to have adequate policies, procedures and controls to detect, manage and mitigate the risk of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The relevant law is the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act.

“These include the obligations to establish, implement and maintain a robust AML/CFT compliance programme, to conduct enhanced customer due diligence and terminate business relationships when required, to monitor accounts, and to keep records as required by the act,” the department added.

“New Zealand casinos can be exploited by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime and to finance terrorism if robust processes aren’t maintained,” Serge Sablyak of the DIA said in a statement.

“Casinos must implement strong measures to prevent this.”

In a statement, Christchurch Casino said it was aware of the DIA’s proceedings.

“Christchurch Casino has in place enhancement programmes in relation to AML/CFT compliance. This has evolved, and continues to involve, significant investment in people and technology, and various reviews of Christchurch Casinos’ processes and systems to identify areas which require improvement and updating.

“Christchurch Casino takes its AML/CFT compliance obligations seriously and intends to engage constructively with the DIA in relation to the proposed legal proceedings, with a view to resolving these matters as quickly as possible.”

The company, which is owned by Skyline Enterprises, said it believes it is currently compliant with the Act.

“As the matter is to be before the High Court, Christchurch Casino is not able to comment further at this time.”

In September, SkyCity Entertainment Group confirmed it was fined $4.16 million for breaching AML/CFT obligations.

In that case, Internal Affairs reviewed SkyCity’s compliance between September 2022 and December 2023 and found SkyCity breached its obligations.