NRL investigators have interviewed at least six Brisbane Broncos players as part of salary cap probe
EXCLUSIVE Josh Massoud
The Daily Telegraph
August 07, 2014 12:00AM
STAR Brisbane recruits Ben Barba and Martin Kennedy have been interviewed as part of the NRL’s salary cap probe, which has hit a roadblock because the Integrity Unit cannot compel former Broncos football manager Andrew Gee to cooperate with them.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal at least half a dozen members of the Broncos squad have been summoned to interviews with NRL investigators over the past fortnight. The club’s two highest-paid recruits for 2014 — Barba and Kennedy — are among them.
Barba and Kennedy both defected north midway through their previous contracts, with the Bulldogs and Roosters respectively, on multimillion-dollar deals with the NRL’s most financially robust outfit.
Negotiations also included the prospect of third-party deals to top-up their base salaries.
There is no suggestion the players — or their agents — had any knowledge of wrongdoing or did anything wrong themselves.
Heavily involved in recruitment at the time, Gee was a key figure in those negotiations, which permitted Brisbane to help source outside money, but not guarantee it.
It’s understood there were delays in honouring third-party deals for more than one player for this season. With anxiety rising about whether the money would be forthcoming, Gee was a contact at the club for player agents seeking to ensure their clients weren’t left out of pocket.
The thrust of the NRL’s inquiry — launched in late May — was that the Broncos were guilty of guaranteeing third-party payments.
The potential smoking gun is a $400,000 loan from the Leagues Club — a separate entity to the publicly listed NRL business — to Gee. Internal records reveal this money was repaid shortly before Gee resigned as football manager in April. Gee also stepped down from the board of the Leagues Club around the time the NRL announced a salary cap investigation was taking place.
However, the probe has been frustrated because Gee cannot be compelled to cooperate with the Integrity Unit as he is no longer registered with the NRL. That roadblock has made the task of proving suspicions that any of the Leagues Club loan was used to guarantee unfulfilled third-party deals significantly longer.
That’s why inquiries have commenced with players that the NRL has identified as possible recipients.
On the face of it the transaction was merely a loan that has been repaid. But the NRL has not given up hope that Gee can still be interviewed, even if it is not by its own investigators.
It’s understood the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has been contacted to assist inquiries into the Leagues Club, which is beyond the reach of the NRL’s investigative jurisdiction. ASIC might well have the power to interview Gee because he once represented the club as a board member.
Gee declined to respond when contacted on Wednesday. The Broncos and NRL did likewise. Representatives for Barba and Kennedy have confirmed both were interviewed by the NRL and cooperated fully.
“The NRL will not be commenting on the Broncos salary cap investigation until the matter is finalised,” an NRL spokesman said.
Coincidentally, NRL boss Dave Smith travelled to Brisbane on Wednesday night to give a State of Game presentation to Queensland-based captains, including Broncos skipper Corey Parker. The NRL denied that Smith would be meeting Broncos *officials about the salary cap probe during his trip north, stating the CEO can have no influence on the Integrity Unit’s investigation.
