"The players knew nothing" starting to wear thin....

[MightyBronco]

I think all we need to do now is sit back and wait for a confession that surely can't be too far away.

Thats it there.

There is a cover up going on to protect the players, there is no doubting that anymore. It just may well succeed, there is a big chance of that.

But until that confession, its all speculations. You and i know, and everybody else with a small amount of reasoning ability know they players had to be aware they were on the receiving end of some very suspicions payments/gifts/rorting.

To me, this protection of the players involved is the biggest issue in this scandal.

 

[Ulysseus]

Thats it there.

There is a cover up going on to protect the players, there is no doubting that anymore. It just may well succeed, there is a big chance of that.

But until that confession, its all speculations. You and i know, and everybody else with a small amount of reasoning ability know they players had to be aware they were on the receiving end of some very suspicions payments/gifts/rorting.

To me, this is protection of the players involved is the biggest issue in this scandal.

If there is Mighty Bronco then it aint working, they've named seven players of note, have a pipcture of Inglis's boat on the front page of the Telecrap and just pump out utter tripe to divert attention which if anything is making everyone more curious.
You have to laugh when someone says "no proof!".
Well, if you are convinced that is a great defence then maybe you should volunteer your services in relation to what would now be imminent litigation with regard to the money that the tax man did not get his piece of.
Ignorance is not a credible defence in most cases.
Ask Rene Rivkin, errors in judgement still constitute breaking the law in many cases.

Maybe one of the players will cut a deal and talk, kind of like a prison snitch.

 

[mickdo]

Getting paid $100,000 for 2 appearances on NRL on Fox totalling less than 20 minutes would raise suspicion you would think. Than again it was Fox so as they own the Storm it could quite possibly happen

Yeah, it did raise suspicions, that's why the NRL were investigating them. However proving something like this is a lot harder than just asking for the books.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Players had to be suspicious, but even if they were it was probably a case of "why ask the question when you probably don't want to know the answer."

I'm more sick of the "we want to take pay cuts" comments. That's well and good coming from Smith, but do the guys on 100k want to take pay cuts that would work out to around 30k per player at least?

 

[Firey_Dragon]

Players had to be suspicious, but even if they were it was probably a case of "why ask the question when you probably don't want to know the answer."

I'm more sick of the "we want to take pay cuts" comments. That's well and good coming from Smith, but do the guys on 100k want to take pay cuts that would work out to around 30k per player at least?

Unfortunately for them, ignorance won't help them if the ATO decide to audit them. At the end of the day if alot of these payments were declared to the ATO, the storm would have been found out much earlier for rorting the cap. It comes as no surprise that there are a few worried players, some of them could be looking down the barrel of some pretty serious tax evasion, which can carry a jail sentence.

 

[bileduct]

Unfortunately for them, ignorance won't help them if the ATO decide to audit them. At the end of the day if alot of these payments were declared to the ATO, the storm would have been found out much earlier for rorting the cap. It comes as no surprise that there are a few worried players, some of them could be looking down the barrel of some pretty serious tax evasion, which can carry a jail sentence.

I haven't seen anything so far that would suggest the players have submitted fraudulent tax returns.

The NRLs auditors do not have the ability to audit players personal tax records.

The issue here is that the clubs have hidden payments from the NRL.

There is no evidence the players have withheld declaring any income or benefits ... (Edit to add: ) ... to the tax office.

Bunch of f**kin' cheats otherwise.

 

[The EELiminator]

I haven't seen anything so far that would suggest the players have submitted fraudulent tax returns.

for their sake i hope they havent i really do

The NRLs auditors do not have the ability to audit players personal tax records.

no but the ATO auditors do

The issue here is that the clubs have hidden payments from the NRL.

excuse me *club* there is no evidence yet showing any other club is guilty of anything

There is no evidence the players have withheld declaring any income or benefits ... (Edit to add: ) ... to the tax office.
Bunch of f**kin' cheats otherwise.

and i hope none comes to light if this becomes a tax evasion issue things will get very messy

 

[Jatz Crackers]

Your a deadset joke. The investigators have said there is no reason to think the players are involved or knew anything. They were all decieved.
Until something comes out that proves me wrong, stfu you f**kin grub

No I dont think so. There is a big difference between a mere spokesman suggesting that and the actual people investigating suggesting that. Of course any investigator would not & could not say that.

And noone needs to prove you wrong.

 

[chrisD]

You know on Cops how whenever a guy gets caught with drugs in his pockets the default answer is "those arn't my pants". I want to see Inglis one up Johnsies "I was holding it for a friend" with a "boat? Huh? That's not my boat" line.

 

[bileduct]

excuse me *club* there is no evidence yet showing any other club is guilty of anything

You're excused. It was a typo.

 

[Tweek]

http://storm.admissiondigital.com/

 

[manly40gimps0]

http://storm.admissiondigital.com/

:lol::lol:

 

[Bman26]

Someone said earlier in the thread that the players are worried about their personal files getting audited. That article only has quotes from the RLPA head who had yet to speak any of the players one on one about this issue. Amazing how he could know they were individually worried without actually speaking to them, freakish talent.

 

[The Tank]

But until that confession, its all speculations. You and i know, and everybody else with a small amount of reasoning ability know they players had to be aware they were on the receiving end of some very suspicions payments/gifts/rorting.

To me, this protection of the players involved is the biggest issue in this scandal.

How the f**k do you know? How does any of us know? That's a dumb statement. Just because players received payments or gifts doesn't mean they knew it was outside the salary cap. Sponsors are allowed to hand over a certain value of gifts as long as it's stated in the salary cap.

And no-ones protecting anyone - the player's names are out there but that doesn't mean they're guilty of anything.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

I haven't seen anything so far that would suggest the players have submitted fraudulent tax returns.

The NRLs auditors do not have the ability to audit players personal tax records.

The issue here is that the clubs have hidden payments from the NRL.

There is no evidence the players have withheld declaring any income or benefits ... (Edit to add: ) ... to the tax office.

Bunch of f**kin' cheats otherwise.

Well that all depends on "how" they were paid. In the case of inglis for example a gift voucher to harvey norman and a boat could still be considered to be tax evasion if not declared.

 

[BLKOUT!]

You'd have to be borderline geniused to not know something was wrong. One piece of paper says 500k a year, the other says god knows what and that doesn't seem suspicious? Newspapers and media outlets reporting that you're on 450-500k while you're really bringing in 7-800 and something doesn't tell you that something isn't quite right. Seriously?

I can't speak for anyone else here but when I get paid I know exactly what I'm supposed to be getting paid and for how many hours, if I'm missing even the most minute amount I will chase it up. Everyone else I know does the same thing, why wouldn't that apply to people earning more money? Or is it just normal to be given 20 grand for doing nothing, or handed huge store cards for no apparent reason.

 

[big_matt]

Well the plethora of links around this forum should really be proof enough. :?
I think all we need to do now is sit back and wait for a confession that surely can't be too far away.

Links to what? To dodgy press articles with no facts in them? I asked you for proof. In a murder trial would the judge say "well the daily telecrap reckons they are guilty so 25 years for them". If the players are eventually found guilty ill be as disgusted as much as anyone and demand they are removed from my club. Until then your repetetive accusations of the players are getting tiresome.

 

[Bman26]

Links to what? To dodgy press articles with no facts in them? I asked you for proof. In a murder trial would the judge say "well the daily telecrap reckons they are guilty so 25 years for them". If the players are eventually found guilty ill be as disgusted as much as anyone and demand they are removed from my club. Until then your repetetive accusations of the players are getting tiresome.

This.

 

[wanted man]

Why is there so much insistance that indivdual players had to know they were receiving inproper payments and that collectively they had to know the team would be over the cap.
Individuals may have had a suspision when offered top up bonuses or gifts, but the players are basily guilt free and have nothing to lose in these situations, as all they need is a assurance from the CEO that all is above board. What would you have the players do, go through the clubs books.
As far as that individual player is concerned he is the only player receiving these top ups. Would he run and tell all his team mates, what a sure fire way to distablise the team. It wouldn't take long for the disgruntled players to emerge, asking wheres my boat,car,cash.
I would suspect any CEO invovled in rorts would demand secrecy from any player receiving top ups.
And the same with legit payments, would it be smart of say slater to tell inglis that he receives 100,000 more per year, or for a player who gets 250,000 but thinks hes worth 350,0000 hears slater is getting 700,000 and thinks slater is over payed, not great for team harmony.
I think players would keep payments pretty much to them selves.

 

[One Warrior]

Michael Luck said on Radio Sport in New Zealand this morning that he knew where all his money came from. Enough said, end of story.