KEY POINTS:
The licensing of commission agents is one of several reforms that need to be addressed throughout Australia by authorities, Racing Victoria's chief steward Des Gleeson said yesterday.
A report in the Age newspaper said crime boss Tony Mokbel was able to launder millions of dollars by using several
commission agents who freely bet on behalf of Mokbel and his associates for almost a decade.
The report also named high-profile jockey Jim Cassidy as having received money from Mokbel for tips on horses he rode. Cassidy would not comment on the story yesterday.
Gleeson said he had been pushing for commission agents to be licensed for several years in Victoria so stewards could oversee who was actually responsible for bets.
"Licensing commission agents is one thing we have been discussing for several years, but it needs to be on a national basis," Gleeson said.
"You can't just license it in one state otherwise they will operate in others.
"There needs to be legislative changes to allow us to license them.
"That's something being looked at by the national chairmen of stewards and the racing ministers and the Australian Racing Board is fully aware of our concerns.
"That goes in with race fields legislation, we also need to have access to all betting. We do in Victoria but other states don't, so it's a complex issue there.
"The race fields legislation in Victoria means we do have access to all betting whether it be bookmakers, corporate bookmakers or parimutuel."
Gleeson said another important issue was that of co-operation between the stewards and police in relation to the passing on of information regarding inappropriate relationships between criminals and jockeys or trainers.
"We need to have information like that. If the police have it somehow we need to have a system in place where that information is passed on to the racing authorities so that we can deal with anybody if there is a breach of the rules of racing," Gleeson said.
"And protect the integrity of racing. We haven't got access to the information that the police have. They can't forward it to us. They can only pass it on to law enforcement agencies."
While Mokbel's racing activities went unchecked because stewards were limited by a lack of powers and had little support from police, Gleeson said the relationship with police was much better since 2005.
"We have a really good relationship with [the] Purana [Taskforce]."
"The Pillar Of Hercules scenario showed how information sharing can be of benefit."
Pillar Of Hercules was the subject of an ownership dispute last spring when police suspected the 75 per cent share registered to Irene Meletsis was in fact owned by Mokbel's brother Horty, who was awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges.
Pillar Of Hercules was subsequently sold at pubic auction for A$1.8 million.
Racing New South Wales chief steward Ray Murrihy said his panel also did not have access to any information held by police.
"We would be interested in any evidence that was made available to us."
- AAP
