Ex-Star CEO Cooke defends comments on 'war' with regulator
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The news: Former Star Entertainment CEO Robbie Cooke has defended a private message he sent to Star chair David Foster warning him to get "ready for war" with the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC).
The context: During the eighth day of the NICC's second inquiry into the Star, Caspar Conde, the counsel assisting the inquiry, asked Cooke to clarify a message he sent to Foster in January, prior to a meeting with special manager Nicholas Weeks, the NICC and lawyers, that read: "we are meeting Monday to get ready for war though".
“We were getting ready for what might have been coming. It was a text, it was a moment in time and so there was a bit of heat in that moment as well," Cooke said.
When asked whether this was the opposite of the Star's statement that it was cooperating with the regulator transparently, Cooke said "I don't accept the conclusion that this shows an intention to be taking a non-cooperative approach with the regulator".
"This is a text about something we had just been alerted to involving three law firms and our NSW licence, I'd say I was a little bit on high alert as a result."
On Tuesday, Foster claimed messages sent to Cooke around plans to abolish the NSW casino regulator and oust Weeks were “heat of the moment comments” and he was “trigger happy”.
“My words were poorly chosen and provided in the heat of the moment. They did not properly reflect the point I was trying to make to Mr Cooke who understood,” Foster said.
Cooke also told the inquiry that he left the company after telling Foster in March "that his continuation with the business was not going to be of assistance" in winning back its casino licence. Cooke said the regulator described him as "arrogant, not listening and not moving fast enough".
The Star Entertainment shares were down 3.13% to $0.40 by afternoon trading.
The source: NICC
