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JENNY JIANG: We made so much profit and bring so much business to Crown and they never care about the safety.
GRACE TOBIN, REPORTER: The biggest risk Jenny Jiang says she ever took was working for Australia's gambling giant, Crown Resorts, in China.
JENNY JIANG: We have been told our job is very safe. We're not doing anything illegal in China. This is we have been told by our leaders from Crown Casino in Australia.
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GRACE TOBIN: The administration assistant was one of 19 Crown employees arrested and detained in 2016 for breaking Chinese gambling laws.
When she was finally released from prison, Jenny bravely blew the whistle on the company that she says put profits before the safety of its own staff.
JENNY JIANG: They choose to lie to us, and they choose high risk to all the staff and I don't think that is what is a good company should do.
GRACE TOBIN: Media reports about Jenny's claims, as well as allegations that Crown facilitated money laundering and partnered with junkets linked to organised crime sparked a powerful inquiry in New South Wales, which has been led by Commissioner Patricia BergIn.
COMMISSIONER PATRICIA BERGIN: “I don't like looking backwards in this organisation,' I am told. The absurdity of not learning from your past is really breathtaking.
GRACE TOBIN: Counsel assisting the inquiry has argued Crown is unfit to operate its new Barangaroo casino, but this week Crown hit back. Its legal team submitting the company shouldn't be punished for the mistakes of a small group of senior managers which resulted in the China arrests.
NEIL YOUNG, QC: Those failings have been addressed and they did not encompass, in any event, deceptive or dishonest conduct. There were honest mistakes by management.
GRACE TOBIN: But Jenny says Crown's failures in risk management have lifelong consequences for her.
JENNY JIANG: I can say they have ruined my life. I need to have this criminal record for the rest of my life, wherever I am going.
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GRACE TOBIN: Commissioner Bergin repeatedly slammed Crown's treatment of its former employee after the company publicly attacked Jenny's credibility in newspaper advertisements last year signed by the board.
PATRICIA BERGIN: It is a blot on the board, as I see it. A very bad blot and for those directors that couldn't see it as a blot, it is difficult to understand their judgement.
GRACE TOBIN: Chairman Helen Coonan conceded during her evidence last month that Crown's attack on Jenny was highly inappropriate.
PATRICIA BERGIN: Can you see what was done here was to effectively suggest that this young lady was a gold digger? You agree with that?
HELEN COONAN: Yes. It's most unfortunate and I certainly would prefer it had not have been there.
PATRICIA BERGIN: Would have been better to apologise to her, wouldn't it?
HELEN COONAN: Yes.
JENNY JIANG: I didn't receive any apologies from anyone and the time for the apologies - it's gone.
GRACE TOBIN: Jenny says despite Miss Coonan's public apology at the inquiry, no-one from Crown has ever contacted her personally.
JENNY JIANG: I feel so angry. I feel so upset with what would happen and what they are saying about me.
ANDREW WILKIE, INDEPENDENT MP: Crown's behaviour quite frankly is indefensible and let's not forget that the allegations and the evidence that has revealed in the New South Wales inquiry go way beyond mismanagement or poor administration. They go to the very issue of potential criminality.
GRACE TOBIN: Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has been trying to hold Crown to account for years.
In Federal Parliament last year, he exposed video footage of alleged money laundering at Crown Melbourne - evidence which the New South Wales inquiry is now investigating.
ANDREW WILKIE: They really do think they are above the law. I think they are shocked that the commissioner is asking these tough questions.
For too long they have had political top cover from state governments and the Federal Government, and they can't believe they are actually being held to account.
GRACE TOBIN: Crown is under more scrutiny than ever before, but the company was still planning on opens its Barangaroo casino next month before the New South Wales inquiry has handed down its findings on whether Crown is fit to hold a casino licence.
But today the New South Wales regulator intervened.
PHILIP CRAWFORD, ILGA CHAIR: We're not comfortable with their gaming operations opening until we receive the report from Commissioner Bergin. We won't get that until the end of January, early February.
GRACE TOBIN: The New South Wales regulator has taken the extraordinary step of blocking Crown from opening its gaming facilities.
The decision came as Crown made an explosive admission - that criminals did likely use two of its shell bank accounts to launder dirty cash.
PHILIP CRAWFORD: We talk about money laundering. What does that really mean? We're talking about potentially drugs, talking about child sexual exploitation, we're talking about people trafficking, and we're talking about financing of terrorism.
GRACE TOBIN: The decision is a blow for Crown's billionaire major shareholder, James Packer, who drove the vision of Barangaroo and the pursuit of high rollers from China.
Crown declined 7.30's request for an interview with chairman, Helen Coonan, and didn't respond to written questions.
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As a whistle-blower, Jenny Jiang has put her personal safety at risk by speaking out against one of Australia's most powerful companies but she says it's been worth it to see Crown held to account.
JENNY JIANG: To me, it feels like the truth comes late, just like the apologies but, finally, it did come. So, I feel happy for that.
Liquor and Gaming boss explains why Crown casino opening blocked
The NSW gambling regulator has blocked Crown Resorts from opening its new Barangaroo casino next month.
An inquiry into allegations of money laundering at Crown won’t be released until next year, but the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority said the risk would be too great to allow the casino to open.
Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority Chairman Philip Crawford told Ben Fordham they’re “not comfortable” allowing the casino to open until the decision from the inquiry is handed down.
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“We have suggested to Crown they can open the other facilities they have there.”
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Image:Getty/James D. Morgan