Bookmaker rejected $30,000 deposit into Kieran Foran's account
A corporate bookmaker rejected a $30,000 deposit into the account of Kieran Foran this year, police have discovered after examining records at various betting agencies.
The New Zealand international's gambling activity and his association with noted Sydney punter Eddie Hayson has been of interest to police, who announced this week that dozens of players, officials and members of the community would be
interviewed as part of the newly formed Strike Force Nuralda's investigation into allegations of match fixing in the NRL.
Ready to co-operate: Kieran Foran has said he is willing to talk to the strike force investigating NRL match-fixing claims. Photo: Getty Images
Fairfax Media reported last month that
some of the winnings of a successful plunge on the round seven match between Manly and Parramatta this season – one of three games under suspicion – had ended up in the TAB accounts of Foran and his brother Liam.
Inquiries by police with local betting agencies also found that corporate bookmaker Ladbrokes rejected an attempted deposit of $30,000 into Foran's account there this year. It is understood that the organisation had grown increasingly concerned about publicity surrounding the player's gambling and declined to accept the deposit. The size of the deposit was also understood to be out of character for Foran's account.
Foran's godfather Don Mackinnon, the Auckland lawyer who has recently stepped in as an advisor and confidante to the player after he split with his two agents, said the rejected deposit to the Ladbrokes account was "complete news to me".
"I know nothing about it," Mackinnon said on Thursday when contacted by Fairfax Media. "My position is pretty simple. I'm not Kieran's agent. It's not appropriate for me to get involved in discussing these sort of issues.
"In the four to six weeks since I've started working with Kieran, his conduct and his attitude has been first class. I can't comment on anything before then."
Mackinnon said the former Parramatta captain would "fully co-operate if asked" with the strike force launched this week.
"My goal is to help Kieran go forward and if he has to answer some issues in his past then he will do that," Mackinnon said.
"We're talking regularly and I'm hopeful he's going to keep making good decisions."
Foran emphatically denied in an interview in July that he had any involvement in corruption of rugby league matches. "I've never been offered to throw a match, not once. I know that if I was that it just would not happen," Foran said at the time.
The involvement of the NSW Crime Commission in the police's match-fixing investigation has heightened secrecy around the probe.
It had been anticipated that interviews would begin as early as Friday. Players are not even permitted to tell their clubs or agents about receiving a notice to appear before the commission in Sydney's CBD. They can be accompanied there, however, by a lawyer.
The investigation, which could last as long as a year, is honing in specifically on claims of match fixing rather than pursuing as a priority those who may have used or passed on inside information, which itself now carries a maximum two-year jail penalty in NSW.
Foran, meanwhile, has been targeted by several NRL clubs, chief among them the New Zealand Warriors, since walking out on a $5 million contract with Parramatta in July and Mackinnon said the 26-year-old's return to the code would be discussed with the NRL when he was ready to make a decision.
"Kieran has been approached by a number of clubs but we are keeping it very low key until, one, he's got himself in a stronger state physically and mentally, and also he'll need to make sure the NRL are comfortable with his position," Mackinnon said.
"As we've said right form the start it's just very slow measured steps to get him back on track. At the right time we'll sit down with the NRL and discuss whatever concerns they have."
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