Crown Casino director Andrew Demitriou to resign | Alds

Crown director Andrew Demitriou has tendered his resignation from the company’s board, following a damning report by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority that sparked a mass culling of senior figures within the gaming giant.

It has been reported chief executive Ken Barton handed his resignation to Crown chair Helen Coonan on Thursday, but he has not officially stepped down from the top role.

Calls for Mr Barton’s resignation are in response to the report, which found detailed evidence Crown had allowed illegal money laundering to occur in both its Melbourne and Perth venues.

Commissioner Patricia Bergin in her findings said there was a great deal of corporate “arrogance” among the Crown board and senior management, which actively turned a blind eye to organised crime operating within its venues.

Both the NSW and the Victorian regulator have criticised Mr Barton and Mr Demitriou following Commissioner Bergin’s report.

Mr Demitriou, a former AFL boss, said in a statement that the comments directed at him were an unfair representation of his character.

“I have always been a team player and supported the greater good,” he said.

“I will therefore step down from the Crown Resorts board to give Crown the best possible chance of becoming suitable to the NSW regulator. In taking this decision, I believe the comments directed at me in the report are unfair and unjust, and I will defend my reputation at every opportunity.”

Crown announced the shock resignations on Wednesday of James Packer’s main Consolidated Press Holdings lieutenants Guy Jalland and Michael Johnston, who were appointed to the board as nominees to represent the 36 per cent stake held by the billionaire’s private company.

That same afternoon, Crown announced director John Poynton’s consultancy arrangement with CPH had been terminated, and he was as a result no longer a nominee on the Crown board — effectively removing all of Mr Packer’s influence