Witness implicates Ayoub in bet scandal
Chris Barrett
October 1, 2011
THE key witness in the NRL betting scandal, Brad Murray, alleges in a statement tendered in court that player agent Sam Ayoub told him last year's Bulldogs-Cowboys game had been ''set up'' and he instructed him to place bets for Ayoub on the exotic first point-scoring option.
On a dramatic day during which Ryan Tandy took to the witness box in his own match-fixing case, another witness, Townsville bar owner Joel Solinas, said in a statement that Ayoub had ''conveyed to me that the bet was a sure thing''.
Magistrate Janet Wahlquist will release her verdict in the Tandy matter next Thursday. Ayoub has also pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to gain financial advantage by deception - as has former first-grader John Elias and Tandy's former real-estate agent, Greg Tait.
Neither Murray nor Solinas were in Downing Centre Local Court yesterday but had statements tendered by police.
Murray, a former halfback at Parramatta who finished the season in the Newcastle competition, alleges Ayoub told him during a conversation in his kitchen to place bets on the Cowboys to score first with a penalty goal in the August 21 game.
The 21-year-old was living with Ayoub, his agent, at the time. Murray said in the statement: ''Sam said words similar to: 'The game has been set up for the Cowboys and the Bulldogs. It has been set up for that to occur and I want you to put these bets on for me.'
''After Sam told me that the game had been set up, I got a piece of paper that was in the kitchen area. I also grabbed a pen and started to write. Sam said words similar to: 'Here are the bets I want you to put on, they are multi bets.'''
Murray's statement added that Ayoub had asked him to put the bets on at different locations, which he did on August 19, 2010. ''After this, Sam handed me an amount of money. From memory it was $750 in $50 notes,'' he said. ''Sam did not tell me that I would be given anything for placing the bets for him. I was just putting them on for him as a favour. On the Thursday I placed three separate bets with the money that Sam had given me.''
Murray admitted he also had his girlfriend place a bet on the Cowboys option at the Gerringong Bowling Club the next day. He said he had been ''naive'' and ''turned a blind eye''.
Solinas, the owner of the Rhino Bar in Townsville, said he was a friend of Ayoub's and had been advised to wager on the option during a conversation at the city's Watermark restaurant on August 19. Solinas subsequently placed bets at the Midtown Hotel.
''I cannot remember the exact words he spoke to me but he conveyed to me that the bet was a sure thing,'' Solinas said.
Tandy, meanwhile, spent two hours in the witness box discussing in detail his role in the first two minutes of the controversial match as well as the $30,000 debt the prosecution claims was a motive for his alleged involvement in the huge plunge. He has pleaded not guilty to manipulating the first scoring point of the match to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage ''for Sam Ayoub, John Elias and others, to win $113,245 from Tabcorp''.
Under cross-examination by Sergeant Mark Watson, the 30-year-old former Canterbury prop was asked about the tackle on Grant Rovelli that gave the Cowboys the chance to open the scoring with two points. Tandy had run from the left side of the field to make the tackle with hooker Michael Ennis . He denied he gave away a penalty deliberately by lying on Rovelli.
''It's my job to do that - I'm the openside prop,'' Tandy said.
Tandy said he was not involved in betting on the match in question but has been accused of placing a wager on his first game for the Bulldogs, played against the Gold Coast on June 18 last year. He told the court that bet had been placed ''on behalf of others''. ''In my mind it wasn't my bet,'' he said.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...bet-scandal-20110930-1l1dm.html#ixzz1ZVAIg7Bo
