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Parramatta Leagues Club board sacked, administrator appointed

hineyrulz

hineyrulz

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153,811
El Diablo said:
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...witness-for-scott-seward-20170410-gvhwu3.html

NRL chief Todd Greenberg won't appear as character witness for Scott Seward

NRL chief Todd Greenberg will decline any request to provide a character reference in court for former Parramatta chief executive Scott Seward, the second Eels official to be charged by police after a fraud squad investigation into the club's salary cap scandal.

Seward has been charged with two counts of fraud over the systematic rorting of the cap at the club and is not the last on the radar of detectives from Strike Force Rhodium, who have spent more than nine months probing the alleged use of fake and inflated invoices to pay players via third-party agreements.

Now based in Melbourne, the ex-Eels CEO co-operated with police in their inquiries. His case is due to be mentioned at Downing Centre Local Court on May 19.

Seward's lawyer, John Sutton, told The Australian that he "hopes to bring several notable people to his aid", prompting suggestions that Greenberg, who knows the 41-year-old from their days at Canterbury, may be asked to provide a character reference.

Seward contacted the NRL CEO last year for advice on whether he should agree to be interviewed by the NRL integrity unit about its salary cap inquiry, with Greenberg responding that he should "provide any evidence he had".

It is understood that despite their Bulldogs link Greenberg would decline any request to appear as a character witness or submit a reference for Seward, given the position he is in as head of a governing body that came down so strongly on the Eels for their flouting of the rules.

While Seward assisted the NRL when interviewed, Greenberg, in his breach notice determination to the club, later concluded that the former Eels chief was "responsible for a large number of the TPAs that I regard as being improperly submitted to the salary cap auditor for exclusion as remuneration".

As police prepare to lay more charges in connection with the rorting at the Eels it is believed that the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority is close to announcing a ruling that could see former members of the Parramatta Leagues Club board deemed unfit to serve on club boards for three years.

While Parramatta has moved on from the affair with ILGA's appointment last July of administrator Max Donnelly to run the leagues club and the unveiling of a new football club board in February, the full cost of the saga will be laid bare to members at Wednesday night's annual general meeting.

The leagues club's annual report reveals that the total bill from the cap scandal in 2016 was $12.44 million, including legal fees, the $750,000 fine dished out by the NRL and costs associated with the so-called TPA "slush fund", the Premiership Club. Legal fees alone, including those accumulated when five board members and executives challenged their deregistration by the NRL in the Supreme Court, came to $1.7 million.

"These losses are simply unsustainable and the financial health and wealth of the Leagues Club cannot continue to be eroded in such a fashion ever again," leagues club chief executive Bevan Paul said in the annual report.

The leagues club still reported a profit of $8.42 million but saw a drop in revenue of $2.84 million, attributed by Paul as "due mainly to a reduction in revenue from sponsorship and hospitality".

The Eels remain without a major sponsor this season and on Sunday advertised as part of a paid newspaper supplement in an effort to fill the vacancy, telling potential backers that they could take their "brand to new heights" and "gain the exposure some businesses only dream about".

For the pleasure, the front-of-jersey major sponsorship deal will set its purchaser back significantly north of $1 million a year.
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Take your brand to new heights at the bottom of the NRL ladder..........
 
The EELiminator

The EELiminator

Coach
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12,177
hineyrulz said:
Take your brand to new heights at the bottom of the NRL ladder..........
Click to expand...

hey if you want exposure we're your team!!

imagine the back page with a big photo of YOUR brand name in bold print being shown on the jersey of an eels player! don't read the article just look at the photo
 
T-Boon

T-Boon

Coach
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15,912
"Seward was pressured into applying for the job" What a victim.
And then he gets a reference for the job from Greenberg. What great judgement Greenberg has.
 
Gronk

Gronk

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77,719
The Parramatta Eels could face a fresh penalty of up to $250,000 from the NSW clubs regulator, adding to the NRL-record $12.4 million loss the club has already tallied over the past year due to systematic salary cap cheating under its former regime.

As revealed in an exclusive report in The Australian yesterday, NSW’s Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority confirmed it has proposed that Parramatta and four of their former directors — chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa and directors Peter Serrao and Geoff Gerard — should be sanctioned over the salary cap scandal.

It is understood the notices were issued to the club and the four directors late on Monday afternoon.

Under the previous regime, fraudulent invoices and contracts were allegedly used to systematically cheat the NRL’s salary cap to the tune of $3m between 2013 and 2016.

The confirmation of ILGA’s actions yesterday has been met with a mixture of shock and anger from the four directors, who the clubs regulator has asked to “show cause” why they should not be disqualified from the club industry for up to three years.

Sharp, a former Eels star, twice hung up the phone when The Australian called yesterday. Gerard, an Eels great from their golden era, said he had not yet read the breach notice as he was travelling in Asia. “I haven’t read my emails. I’m on annual leave,” he said.

Issa would say only: “Extremely disappointed is our reaction. I’ve got to take time to digest it all.”

A clearly shaken Serrao said: “I’m just getting my head around it.”

Meanwhile, Eels and Parramatta Leagues Club chairman Max Donnelly told The Australian he would fight to reduce the penalty, saying the club itself was a victim of alleged fraud committed by previous officials.

“I can’t imagine the fine would be anything like that ($250,000),” he said. “I don’t think the club did too much. It was officers who were directing payments to be made that resulted in a fraud on the club.

“The club itself is categorically the victim — it has lost a lot of money.”

Donnelly — who was appointed by ILGA in July last year after it had sacked the entire Parramatta board — said he would be “taking advice” on how he could attempt to ensure the fine was as small as possible.

He has plenty of reasons to try and reduce the penalty given the amount of fines the club has already paid for their alleged sins.

Parramatta were already fined $1m when they were first punished by the NRL last year, a fine that was later reduced to $750,000. But the NRL also penalised the club their entire winnings from the Auckland Nines, making it a further $370,000.

Given the $12.4m in losses inflicted by the salary cap scandal alone in 2016, the club can ill afford for huge penalties from the scandal to spill over into another year while they battle on other fronts, including finding a new sponsor.

The Parramatta Leagues Club and the four former directors are now being asked to make written submissions to ILGA to respond to the contention that they are not “fit and proper” people to hold key positions of a registered club.

Donnelly said the “show cause” letter sent to the club made it clear that Liquor and Gaming NSW had made complaints to ILGA, its disciplinary body, about the entire former seven-member board — not just the four directors ultimately sanctioned.

“The letter I got yesterday said there were seven complaints (one for each member of the former board), but we’re proceeding with four of them,” he said. “I don’t understand why it wasn’t all seven, but it’s a matter for ILGA. The reason for the complaint was similar for all seven.”

The NSW government took the unprecedented action of sacking the whole board in July last year because it was deemed that it had “ceased to be effective as a governing body”.

One of the three former Eels directors not sanctioned yesterday, former Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Garrard, was critical of ILGA’s decision to sanction Gerard.

“If there wasn’t enough evidence to give Gerard a breach notice from the NRL, how come he gets a show-cause notice from ILGA?” he asked. “I think that raises more questions.”

“The decisions made today shouldn’t have been made public until the people concerned had the ability to show cause. Let’s give the opportunity for those named today to defend themselves.”

Garrard also expressed annoyance at the move in July last year to sack the board, including himself. “It’s taken them nine months to getting around to making the decisions they have,” he said.

“I’m confused about what led them to sack the leagues club board last year.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...g/news-story/1b118809c860615ae07b446b4ffa382d
 
Gronk

Gronk

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$250k ? pfft. Doris would put that through her fav pokie on a Monday morning.
 
Twizzle

Twizzle

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153,375
Gronk said:
Sharp, a former Eels star, twice hung up the phone when The Australian called yesterday.
Click to expand...

really ? gee I would have thought he would have welcomed a chat about how he f**ked everything up

seriously, what did they expect ?
 
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