As the Star inquiry zeroes in on the board, how high will the bloodletting go?

Will Matt Bekier be the highest ranking figure at The Star Entertainment Group to be ousted over the damning public inquiry that’s uncovering the casino’s grubbiest secrets?

If the former CEO has anything to do with it, the answer will be yes.

Over his first two days of evidence, the Swiss numbers man appeared to dump responsibility for the casino’s wrongdoing on management beneath him, while doing his best to shield the board of directors above.

The inquiry into The Star’s suitability to hold its Sydney casino licence is following the playbook of the two inquiries that gutted its rival Crown Resorts over the past two years: first uncover executives’ misconduct. Then go after directors over what they knew and – just as importantly – what they should have known, but didn’t.

Bekier resigned as chief executive and managing director on March 27, after the inquiry’s explosive first two weeks. It exposed how the group had misused Chinese debit cards to enable $900 million in prohibited gambling transactions. Meanwhile, there was clear evidence industrial-scale money laundering was happening place in the private gaming room of its notorious “junket” partner Suncity room.

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Bekier said he resigned because as CEO, he was accountable for what went wrong at the company. Accountable but what about responsible? Bekier said that sat with his underlings in senior management, who made bad decisions and kept him in the dark when things went wrong.

Many of those executives will almost certainly follow their boss out the door, mirroring the exodus at James Packer’s Crown. There are now questions over whether Star’s finance boss Harry Theodore, NSW casino boss Greg Hawkins, general council Oliver White, and chief legal and risk officer Paula Martin will survive.

And what about the ASX-listed company’s directors, led by its chairman (now executive chairman following Bekier’s departure) John O’Neil?