Former AVZ director sues for defamation

Former AVZ Minerals director Peter Huljich has accused several of the company’s board members of defamation, ahead of the lithium hopeful’s annual general meeting today.

Mr Huljich last week lodged a writ in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, naming AVZ directors Nigel Ferguson, Rhett Brans, Graeme Johnston and Casta Tungaraza, chief financial officer Jan de Jager, and commercial manager Ben Cohen as defendants.

In the writ obtained by Business News, Mr Huljich alleged the defendants published false and defamatory documents in the company's media releases responding to Fat Tail.

On its website and the AGM supplementary booklet, AVZ Minerals made references to Fat Tail Nominees, a group linked to a campaign to oust Mr Ferguson from the board.

AVZ previously claimed Fat Tail to be linked to Mr Huljich. 

The West Perth company will hold its AGM this afternoon but in an unexpected move, AVZ has informed reporters it will be holding its meeting behind closed doors with no media allowed.

In the writ, Mr Huljich claims damages for defamation and a court-ordered injunction to restrain any repetition or republication of the alleged defamatory matter.

Mr Huljich alleged the defendants published false and defamatory documents on its website and Twitter on October 9 and 23, according to the writ.

The lawsuit comes more than a month after AVZ Minerals announced to the market that a campaign group linked to Fat Tail called for the immediate resignation of Mr Ferguson and nominated three names to be appointed to the board, including Mr Huljich.

It is not yet known what was alleged to be defamatory.

According to the writ, the media releases were republished on the ASX, IRESS, ThomsonReuters, Bloomberg and Morningstar.

Mr Huljich was a non-executive director at AVZ for more than three years and resigned from the role in August 2022.