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Todd uses rugby stars in scam
23 January 2005
By TONY WALL
League and television personality Brent Todd used the names of two Australian rugby legends to gain money from the North Harbour Rugby Union. The payments are being investigated by the Department of Internal Affairs.
The Sunday Star-Times has learned that Todd - who together with his business interests received more than $1 million from the union over three years - was paid on invoices in the names of former Wallaby captain Andrew Slack and Queensland Reds rugby coach Jeff Miller without their knowledge.
Cheques for several thousand dollars were signed by the union's former CEO, Doug Rollerson, a former All Black who resigned from the union last year.
Miller, formerly the Reds' chief executive and now their coach, was said to have taken part in a summer academy as a consultant in 2001, while Slack, also a former Queensland coach, was supposed to have been a guest speaker at a union-related function.
The Star-Times understands the money was in fact paid to Todd, who is based in Queensland, or his pub companies.
Both Slack and Miller say they have never done any work for Todd, Rollerson or North Harbour rugby. It was the first they had heard of their names being used.
Miller said he had never met Todd. "This is the first I've heard of any of this. I'm not very happy about it obviously."
Slack said he met Todd very briefly at his bar in Christchurch around 1998 and played rugby against Rollerson, but had never done any work for them or North Harbour rugby.
"The more I think about this, the more angry I'm getting," he said.
The Star-Times approached Todd outside his lawyer's office in Auckland on Friday. He was driving a 2000 model Mercedes-Benz registered to him but previously owned by Hawke's Bay businessman Chris Sullivan, also under investigation by Internal Affairs over gaming issues.
Todd said: "I have no comment; write what you like, I know you will anyway."
Rollerson, asked if he authorised the payments against the invoices in the names of Slack and Miller, said: "I can't really comment. I'm well out of the union now. I can't even remember anything like that."
Todd has so far paid back $650,000 to the North Harbour Rugby Union, in two payments made through lawyers. In turn, the union has reimbursed gaming machine societies that granted it funding for promoting amateur rugby.
The bulk of the repayments were to the Trillian Trust in Auckland and the Century Foundation in Hastings, the two societies which Todd dealt with through his string of Auckland pubs.
Internal Affairs is conducting the investigation and examining whether Todd received the payments in exchange for bringing in millions of dollars of gaming machine grants through his pub connections.
The Star-Times can also reveal that Todd had business dealings with New Zealand Rugby League, which paid $11,000 for renovations on Todd's Mt Albert pub, The Thirsty Whale. The money was later repaid by NZRL boss Selwyn Pearson.
Pearson confirmed that league money gained through gaming grants had been used to pay for renovations on Todd's pub.
Asked why that happened, he said: "We were going to use his builders and he was going to pay them. That project was not totally funded by authorised purposes."
Pearson revealed that he had personally seen to it that the money was repaid. "The bottom line is, I paid for that out of my own pocket. We are talking peanuts, it was only 11 grand."
He said he repaid NZRL, who in turn reimbursed the gaming society.
"I promise you faithfully there is no trust money outstanding or gone to someone it shouldn't have.
"We are so dependent on the gaming money . . . our entity is squeaky, squeaky clean. We have a bomb-proof system, it's money in and money out and what can't be for authorised purposes we send back."
Meanwhile, TVNZ says a new reality sports show called The Zone, which Todd will present, will go ahead as planned this year, despite Todd's difficulties. "Brent Todd has been a very professional and hard-working presenter for TVNZ . . . We wouldn't comment on any personal business matters of Todd's," spokeswoman Michele Camilleri said.
23 January 2005
By TONY WALL
League and television personality Brent Todd used the names of two Australian rugby legends to gain money from the North Harbour Rugby Union. The payments are being investigated by the Department of Internal Affairs.
The Sunday Star-Times has learned that Todd - who together with his business interests received more than $1 million from the union over three years - was paid on invoices in the names of former Wallaby captain Andrew Slack and Queensland Reds rugby coach Jeff Miller without their knowledge.
Cheques for several thousand dollars were signed by the union's former CEO, Doug Rollerson, a former All Black who resigned from the union last year.
Miller, formerly the Reds' chief executive and now their coach, was said to have taken part in a summer academy as a consultant in 2001, while Slack, also a former Queensland coach, was supposed to have been a guest speaker at a union-related function.
The Star-Times understands the money was in fact paid to Todd, who is based in Queensland, or his pub companies.
Both Slack and Miller say they have never done any work for Todd, Rollerson or North Harbour rugby. It was the first they had heard of their names being used.
Miller said he had never met Todd. "This is the first I've heard of any of this. I'm not very happy about it obviously."
Slack said he met Todd very briefly at his bar in Christchurch around 1998 and played rugby against Rollerson, but had never done any work for them or North Harbour rugby.
"The more I think about this, the more angry I'm getting," he said.
The Star-Times approached Todd outside his lawyer's office in Auckland on Friday. He was driving a 2000 model Mercedes-Benz registered to him but previously owned by Hawke's Bay businessman Chris Sullivan, also under investigation by Internal Affairs over gaming issues.
Todd said: "I have no comment; write what you like, I know you will anyway."
Rollerson, asked if he authorised the payments against the invoices in the names of Slack and Miller, said: "I can't really comment. I'm well out of the union now. I can't even remember anything like that."
Todd has so far paid back $650,000 to the North Harbour Rugby Union, in two payments made through lawyers. In turn, the union has reimbursed gaming machine societies that granted it funding for promoting amateur rugby.
The bulk of the repayments were to the Trillian Trust in Auckland and the Century Foundation in Hastings, the two societies which Todd dealt with through his string of Auckland pubs.
Internal Affairs is conducting the investigation and examining whether Todd received the payments in exchange for bringing in millions of dollars of gaming machine grants through his pub connections.
The Star-Times can also reveal that Todd had business dealings with New Zealand Rugby League, which paid $11,000 for renovations on Todd's Mt Albert pub, The Thirsty Whale. The money was later repaid by NZRL boss Selwyn Pearson.
Pearson confirmed that league money gained through gaming grants had been used to pay for renovations on Todd's pub.
Asked why that happened, he said: "We were going to use his builders and he was going to pay them. That project was not totally funded by authorised purposes."
Pearson revealed that he had personally seen to it that the money was repaid. "The bottom line is, I paid for that out of my own pocket. We are talking peanuts, it was only 11 grand."
He said he repaid NZRL, who in turn reimbursed the gaming society.
"I promise you faithfully there is no trust money outstanding or gone to someone it shouldn't have.
"We are so dependent on the gaming money . . . our entity is squeaky, squeaky clean. We have a bomb-proof system, it's money in and money out and what can't be for authorised purposes we send back."
Meanwhile, TVNZ says a new reality sports show called The Zone, which Todd will present, will go ahead as planned this year, despite Todd's difficulties. "Brent Todd has been a very professional and hard-working presenter for TVNZ . . . We wouldn't comment on any personal business matters of Todd's," spokeswoman Michele Camilleri said.
