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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4695 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

the company after ACTTAB was ejected from the Victorian TAB's superpool. Action to attempt recovery of the settlement is recommended by Mr Burbidge. The second key conclusion is that the arrangement reached by the ACT Racing Club to provide a financial incentive to two punters to utilise its betting facilities was not an illegal practice.

I turn to the detailed findings contained in the Burbidge report. Mr Speaker, I begin with the board of inquiry's findings about the operation and ownership of the company known as VITAB Ltd. Mr Burbidge has found that the principals of VITAB deliberately misrepresented the company's position. Indeed, far from being a vehicle for the channelling of Asian bets into the Australian TAB system, the report finds that VITAB was created to take advantage of the low tax regime in Vanuatu and thereby retain the bulk of the 15 per cent commission on betting turnover which in Australia is retained by TABs for government taxes and support of the local racing industry and to cover expenses.

Mr Burbidge also concluded that the great bulk of VITAB's betting turnover was, and was always intended to be, sourced from two bookmaking operations - the Numbawan Betting Shop in Port Vila, with its 2,000 Australian customers, and the so-called Zeljko-Walsh group. Mr Speaker, it should be pointed out that the Numbawan Betting Shop was run by Mr Alan Tripp, a Victorian man who relocated his illegal Australian gaming operations to Vanuatu in 1993. Mr Tripp was identified in the Costigan royal commission report as a prominent SP bookmaker. Indeed, virtually an entire chapter of that report was devoted to his activities. It was revealed by this board of inquiry that Mr Tripp has a long history of convictions for gaming offences in Victoria dating back to 1978.

Mr Speaker, Mr Burbidge makes it clear in his report that he has identified Mr Tripp as not only an active participant in the VITAB venture but also a substantial beneficiary from its operations. I quote from page 103 of the report:

The representation by VITAB that its purpose was to attract Asian punters, and the concealment of the involvement of Alan Tripp and the Zeljko-Walsh group, was the fraud which resulted in ACTTAB entering the VITAB agreement.

Mr Speaker, the Burbidge inquiry also found that the true ownership of VITAB was concealed from ACTTAB through the execution of a shareholders agreement which was not disclosed. Under the agreement six parties were identified as the major beneficiaries, including Mr Peter Bartholomew with a 44 per cent shareholding. The inquiry reported that Mr Bartholomew had multiple convictions for gaming-related offences in Victoria dating back to 1982. He was also the brother-in-law of Mr Tripp and a close associate. A third principal of VITAB, Mr Con McMahon, was also found to have been convicted of a gaming offence in Victoria in 1988.

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