Ousted Star boss says he was labelled arrogant and slow by NSW casino commission

Ousted Star Entertainment chief Robbie Cooke departed after he was accused by the regulator of ‘being arrogant, not listening and too slow’.

The inquiry heard that the NICC had by December lost faith in Mr Cooke’s ability to execute the remediation plan. Picture: David Clark

Ousted Star Entertainment chief executive Robbie Cooke says he left the business after the regulator accused him of “being arrogant, not listening and too slow”.

The disclosure at the so-called Bell II inquiry came as it also was revealed a whistleblower complaint against Mr Cooke was a factor considered in the board’s decision to remove him.

It was the first time Mr Cooke had gone head-to-head with inquiry boss Adam Bell SC, who will decide whether Star is suitable to regain its licence for its Sydney casino. Mr Bell’s first inquiry in 2022 — before Mr Cooke joined the company — found it was a “case study of unethical behaviour”.

On Wednesday, Mr Cooke said he had informed Star chairman David Foster in March “that his continuation with the business was not going to be of assistance” in winning back its Sydney casino licence given the view of the NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC).

“Mr Foster advised me that there had been a meeting where the commission told him that they had lost confidence in me,” Mr Cooke told the Bell inquiry.

“The reasons that were given was that I was regarded as being arrogant, not listening, and not moving fast enough.”

Mr Cooke’s departure came amid worsening relations between Star and the regulator, which considered whether the company was doing enough to reform its business practices which left it exposed to criminal activities such as money laundering and fraud.

Mr Cooke said felt he was “under attack” after discovering the regulator and special manager Nicholas Weeks were meeting with three law firms in the company boardroom in January.

He said that he probably overreacted to the meeting “but it was very unusual and made me think something was going on”.

“We were wondering what was happening and what we needed to respond to. Were we staring into something involving law firms in relation to our Sydney licence?” Mr Cooke said. “We were on high alert as a result.”

He said he was alerted to the meeting after the room was booked electronically and his assistant received a notification.

He denied he was “digging into” a confidential meeting but, under questioning from inquiry head Adam Bell, said that in hindsight he should have realised the meeting was a confidential one to which he was not invited.

He denied he was being paranoid but said he felt a “sense of assault”.

The inquiry heard a whistleblower complaint against Mr Cooke was not irrelevant to the board’s decision to sever his employment.

“It was a piece of information and certainly would have been taken into account by the board,” non-executive director Anne Ward told the inquiry.

“It was a factor to be taken into account that such an account would be lodged.” The inquiry has not allowed the publication of details of the report, going into private session yesterday when counsel assisting the inquiry Caspar Conde asked Mr Cooke about the complaint.

Former Star boss Robbie Cooke appearing at the inquiry on Wednesday.

Ms Ward said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the content of messages between Mr Cooke and Mr Foster which discussed war with the regulator and considered a class action against the NICC.

Ms Ward said that after the NICC lost confidence in Mr Cooke in December, she felt Mr Cooke should have left the business immediately, a view not supported by other directors. “I had decided the sooner the better,” she said.

Mr Cooke said his leadership team was aware of the company’s deteriorating financial position, He hit back at suggestions Star attempted to “cook the books” in relation to a $3.2m fraud committed against it following malfunctioning cash machines last year.

He did not recollect attending a meeting with chief financial officer Christina Katsibouba and head of investor relations Giovanni Rizzo, during which Mr Rizzo suggested the fraud losses be booked against November rather than July. Such a move would have made the company’s overall financial performance look better than it actually was as Star prepared for a capital raising.

“I don’t deny a meeting is possible but it is hard for me to understand what I may have said at a hypothetical meeting,” Mr Cooke said.

He denied a suggestion from counsel assisting the Bell inquiry Caspar Conde that discussion of material financial matters was not encouraged by his senior executives.

“I disagree with that completely,” Mr Cooke said. “Any member of the group leadership team was able to put anything on the agenda. There were no constraints and no restrictions.”

Mr Cooke conceded that he did not share several reports from Mr Weeks with his leadership team “because they were reports for the board”. The reports were critical of the company’s remediation efforts.

As Mr Cooke faced a series of high-profile departures of senior executives, he said he did not recall Ms Katsibouba telling him her position had become untenable because she could not get “traction on important pieces of work”, was excluded from important decisions and could not get time with Mr Cooke. The inquiry heard the Mr Cooke had a management style that featured unsustainable hours.

Mr Cooke said he had severed all ties with Star, including a consultancy arrangement that was terminated last week. The consultancy, which was to help with the transition process after he left in March, did not involve him in Star’s casino business.

Mr Conde asked Mr Cooke whether the termination related to allegations he had told Star falsehoods in relation to the resignation of chief legal officer Betty Ivanoff last year. Ms Ivanoff told the inquiry she handed a resignation letter to Mr Cooke in September – a claim denied by Mr Cooke.

He also denied he cut contact with a business ethics consultant, Attracta Lagan, after she told him he “was not building internal capacity for change”.