Former CEO made threats to sue firm

THE FORMER chief executive of Irish-based casino software developer, Cryptologic, threatened to sue the company while he was still running it and a member of its board, according to documents released yesterday.

Javaid Aziz agreed to leave the Dublin-headquartered firm a year ago after 11 months at its helm when differences emerged between him and the board. His severance deal came to $1.8 million (€1.4 million).

In a letter published yesterday and signed by chairman Bob Stikeman, the board states that Mr Aziz made repeated demands for money and threatened to sue the company while he was chief executive and a board member.

The letter is a response to Mr Aziz’s demands for an extraordinary general meeting at which he was to seek election to the board as a non-executive, and call for Mr Stikeman’s resignation.

The letter is the latest twist in a row that has pushed both sides close to legal action. It states that, based on his conduct both while Cryptologic chief executive and after that time, the directors do not believe he is “an appropriate person” to sit on the board.

The firm is also holding €1.5 million in an account which is payable to Mr Aziz should control of the group change before April this year. It is seeking the return of this money on the grounds that he has broken the terms of his severance.

Mr Aziz began buying shares in the company after his departure and filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that he has more than 10 per cent of Cryptologic, enough to entitle him to call for the meeting. He did this formally last week.

However, the board’s letter states that, according to documents provided by Mr Aziz, it could identify just over 500,000 shares under his control, which is less than 10 per cent of Cryptologic’s 13.8 million voting shares.

The board’s letter notes that some of Mr Aziz’s criticism “could reasonably be expected” to damage the firm’s stock price.