POS named in Storm rorts

[stsae]

I cant understand the comments aimed at News Ltd. I would have thought that this happening to the Storm would be detrimental to their business. Surely if the report came from them they would prefer it was favourable??

Dolphin ever heard of a company whose primary concern is selling newspapers NOT wanting to report the news???

Think about what their benifit is.

Why the fark do you think they run off on a billion useless tangents every year about our game???


And the so-called "independent" report was favourable, to NewsRL. Its contents, well the ones we were fed, will sell many units.

[stsae]

I still don't quite follow...

Who are you wanting to blame???

1. Melbourne Storm
2. News Ltd
3. NRL???

They are all the same beast PTB.

But im guessing thats the response you required.

[stsae]

Vasco - I am not just trying to cause trouble or an arguement..

I just want to try to understand how and why they blame News and the NRL??

as I said. I am happy to listen..

News are a major stakeholder in News LTD, NewsRL, Telstra, Fox, The Tellucrapp and Melba and The Wankos.

But ofcourse with ALL that involvement they pull the old "I knew nutting" line.

[stsae]

Billy - I believe Bellamy is up to his eyeballs in it, along with the players and the player managers..

Thats what News want, deflect the blame game.

You reckon all the player managers and players and coaches sit around and compare salaries and add up their numbers to tally a figure to show they are over the cap???

Im sure we ALL do this with our workmates.

[stsae]

And Vasco mate, everything you said I agree with 100%.

Too many to quote.

[Guest]

Viva la Independant Comission..

Lets get the game back where we had it before Super faarking League..

No more unnecessary "RL's" compromising growth with petty self-interest (QRL,ARL,NSWRL,CRL...faark 'em all off..or stip them of ALL power..)..

The way this game will come on once an independant commision is established will be amazing..

The fact that it is in such good health inspite of all the pettiness that exists at ALL levels of administration of the game is nothing short of miraculous..

& of course NEWS..faark them right off..

[stsae]

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...715-10cob.html

Sacked directors cry foul on Storm salary cap report
TOM REILLY
July 16, 2010

THE independent directors of the Melbourne Storm last night claimed News Ltd was trying to silence them, following the announcement the four had been sacked from the club's board.

Former director Peter Maher, speaking on behalf of the dismissed colleagues Petra Fawcett, Gerry Ryan and chairman Dr Rob Moodie, said he believed Rupert Murdoch's media company was desperate to ''stop the bloodletting''.

Mr Maher's claims came at the end of a day of high drama, which began with News Ltd chief executive John Hartigan calling a press conference to announce the findings of an audit of the Storm's books and news of the sackings.

But Mr Maher told The Age: ''I have no doubt that what's occurred today was a way to stop the bloodletting occurring here and the only way they could do that is by getting rid of us and do everything in their power to circumvent the court action.''

According to the findings of accountancy firm Deloitte - as revealed in The Age on Wednesday - the club had exceeded the cap by $3.17 million over the five years between 2006-10 and were on schedule to be $1.3 million over the cap for next year.

Mr Maher was also deeply critical of NRL chief executive David Gallop who told the media, ''I expect the [Deloitte] report would be largely accurate'', even though it revealed cap breaches that were more than double the amount suspected by his organisation's investigators.

''To have someone to make a statement today saying they accept the findings of the Deloitte report without even seeing one page of it absolutely staggers me,'' said Mr Maher.

''Could you imagine any other code being accepting of that? It's ridiculous.''

News Ltd refused to release the full version of Deloitte's findings, instead making public a short summary of the accountants report. Among the details were that 13 players received payments outside of the cap.

They are: Will Chambers, Michael Crocker, Cooper Cronk, Matt Geyer, Ryan Hoffman, Greg Inglis, Dallas Johnson, Antonio Kaufusi, Anthony Quinn, Billy Slater, captain Cameron Smith, Steve Turner and Brett White.

The report also claimed three of Storm's current superstars - Inglis, Smith and Slater - had signed or had their managers sign ''side letters'' with the Storm that showed amounts to be paid well in excess of the contracts they had lodged with the NRL.

Mr Hartigan said many of the cap breaches involved third-party payments that came in the form of ''donations'' and ''consulting fees'' and involved concert promoter Andrew McManus' entertainment company, as well as now defunct charity for indigenous teenagers called the Unity Foundation.

However, he stressed there was no evidence to suggest the players or these organisations knew the payments were contributing to a salary cap breach.

But he did point the blame at five current and former senior officials as being involved in the salary cap rorts, saying: ''We had some rats in our ranks. A small group of senior officials at the club orchestrated the payments.''

He named former chief executives Brian Waldron and Matt Hanson, former chief financial officer Paul Gregory, former recruitment chief Peter O'Sullivan and another ex-financial boss Cameron Vale.

Mr Hartigan also said the report would be handed to Victoria Police for a possible fraud investigation and claimed the Tax Office were also keen to view the document.

Source: The Age

[stsae]

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...715-10cof.html

O'Sullivan to seek legal advice after report
GLENN JACKSON, SYDNEY
July 16, 2010

FORMER Melbourne recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan will seek legal advice after being implicated in the Storm salary cap scandal by News Ltd executives.

O'Sullivan, employed by the Sydney Roosters, said last night he would be talking to lawyers ''on a number of issues'' after he was linked with the cap rort - alongside four other officials described by News Ltd chief executive John Hartigan as ''rats in the ranks''.

Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce said he would be seeking to view the passages of the document which relate to O'Sullivan to find out the extent of his alleged involvement.

''It's important they provide as much information that they're prepared to release that's relevant to anything that they have alleged against Peter,'' Noyce said.

Noyce said he had spoken with O'Sullivan about being originally linked to the salary-cap breaches when the Storm was handed its unprecedented penalties - and would do so again after he was named as one of five officials who at least had knowledge of transactions which were part of the Storm's systematic breaches of the cap. ''Peter and I have discussed it,'' Noyce said. ''Obviously, we'll speak again. From Peter's point of view, there'll be lots of people asking questions.''

Even though Hartigan named O'Sullivan - along with disgraced chief executive Brian Waldron, the suspended Matt Hanson and Paul Gregory, and former chief financial officer Cameron Vale - News executives appeared to back down when it came to the extent of the former Storm recruitment manager's involvement.

''A small group of senior managers at the club orchestrated and concealed the extra payments,'' Hartigan said. ''… The investigation has identified five managers who were either directly involved or were involved in transactions that resulted in the breaches.''

He added there was evidence that some worked together to ''cover their tracks'' and that their methods were ''designed to deceive others, cheat the system, and avoid detection'', without being specific when it came to who he was referring to.

NRL chief operating officer Peter Macourt clarified that later, saying of O'Sullivan: ''We don't have evidence that he knew they'd breached the salary cap either. He was involved in a transaction that cumulates to part of a salary cap breach - it doesn't mean he knew that it did, just that he was involved in it.''

Hanson and Gregory are suspended, although Hartigan made it clear that ''there is no place for them in our club.''

Of Waldron, he said: ''Frankly what I've said is too much, because he doesn't deserve the breath.''

Source: The Age

[stsae]

Link: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news...715-10cja.html

Sacked director wants independent NRL
ADAM COOPER
July 15, 2010 - 6:59PM
AAP

One of Melbourne's sacked directors has called for the NRL to appoint an independent commission to avert future financial crises such as Storm's salary-cap breaches.

Peter Maher, who along with fellow independents Rob Moodie, Petra Fawcett and Gerry Ryan were sacked on Thursday by Storm owners News Limited, said an impartial arbiter should have investigated the breaches.

Maher admitted to some doubt over whether the now-former directors could continue with their legal action against the heavy penalties imposed on the Storm by the NRL.

But he was adamant it was unworkable and "embarrassing" for News Limited to have a 50 per cent ownership of the competition and to also own clubs when rival codes had independent commissions.

"I fear again that something like this could occur in the future," Maher said of the Storm saga.

"The one thing that must happen here is that an independent commission must come into being.

"If there's one thing that this exercise has shown more than anything else is that the sooner this code gets an independent commission the better, because to compare it to the other code here in Melbourne (the AFL), it's just embarrassing, it seriously is.

"That can't continue, it really can't."

Maher said he and his colleagues were "shattered" by their sackings, but admitted the group had to take some responsibility for the Storm facing such a crisis.

But he was critical of News Limited's role, as the media company had appointed independent directors to oversee the club, yet sacked them - but retained their own directors - "when something untoward has occurred and immediately label them responsible for it".

"I don't see how you can go away and have a future without having an independent football club in this state," he said.

"The sooner this football club becomes ... owned in the same manner as (AFL clubs in) Melbourne and in Adelaide and in Western Australia, once it becomes owned in that manner, I think you'll be back then to having something so vibrant you'll never see these sorts of days again."

Maher conceded the Storm would lose a "considerable amount" of players to get under the salary cap in 2011, but was confident stars Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk would not have to leave.

"There's certainly the scenarios where the big four can certainly remain, no doubt," he said.

© 2010 AAP

[stsae]

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...715-10cqi.html

In-house audit process offers as many questions as it does answers
ROY MASTERS
July 16, 2010

The NRL has set a dangerous precedent in allowing a club owner to conduct its own salary cap investigation and then blindly endorse its findings, an independent director of the Storm said yesterday, before his sacking was announced at a press conference presided by News Ltd chairman and chief executive, John Hartigan.

The Storm director, Peter Maher, along with three other directors, was sacked by club owner News Ltd in the wake of an audit by accounting firm Deloitte, ordered by the media company, which exposed $3.17 million in salary rorting over the past five years.

NRL chief executive David Gallop conceded he had not seen the report of the Deloitte 10-week investigation into rorting of player payments by five club officials, but he was reported in yesterday's media declaring its findings justified his stripping the club of two premierships and forcing it to play for zero points in 2010.

Hartigan revealed yesterday the breaches were 80 per cent more than the amount admitted to when Gallop imposed the punishment and claimed this justified the penalties, yet Maher said neither he nor the Storm's other independent directors - chairman Dr Rob Moodie, businessman Gerry Ryan and consultant Petra Fawcett - had seen the report.

Hartigan said at yesterday's conference the Deloitte report would ''possibly'' be seen by Gallop.

''The precedent of this is that if you own a club, you can conduct your own salary cap investigation and have the NRL CEO support its findings without seeing them,'' Maher said yesterday morning, unaware he had been sacked.

''If say, St George Illawarra, was caught cheating on the cap and announced that its leagues club would fund an inquiry, would Gallop endorse it?''

While it could be argued News Ltd half own the NRL, in this hypothetical example the Dragons are members of the NSWRL which, in turn, is the dominant voting body in the ARL, the other half owners of the NRL.

Maher ridiculed the possibility of equivalent action taking place in the AFL, citing the late billionaire Dick Pratt, who became the defacto owner of the club by rescuing it from potential bankruptcy, yet was prosecuted for price fixing.

''Would the AFL have relied on a Dick Pratt funded audit of Carlton's salary cap breaches?'' he asked.

Nor were any of the Storm's independent directors members of the club's audit committee, a subgroup of board members which is standard practice in companies in the worldwide wake of corporate scandals, such as the Enron implosion.

The Storm's two News Ltd aligned directors, current chief executive Frank Stanton and Herald Sun and Weekly Times executive, Craig Watt, were responsible for supervising club accounts ahead of board meetings.

All finances came through a company named Valimanda, including marketing income of $6m and servicing of marketing of $5.4m, yet no red flags were raised.

News Ltd papers have described the salary rorting as a giant fraud, yet the News Ltd appointed directors had more immediate responsibility for auditing the club accounts than the sacked directors.

Hartigan was uncomfortable at yesterday's press conference explaining how an examination of the accounts by internal and external auditors failed to detect how ''donations'' and ''consultancy fees'' to third parties became payments to players and referred questions to News Ltd chief operating officer, Peter Macourt, who described the payments as ''not unusual.'' Yet presumably most of the responsibility for the fraud rests with the four directors not on the Storm audit committee.

Hartigan said it was ''objectionable'' the four directors could take legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against the NRL's punishment while overseeing an annual loss of between $5m and $6m and committing News Ltd to funding of $14m in 2010.

Still, sources close to disgraced former Storm chief executive Brian Waldron say he ridicules speculation of excessive overspending in 2006 and 2007, when the club made two grand finals and won the second.

Hartigan announced yesterday the investigation had found the club was $500,000 over the cap in 2007.

Had the Storm exceeded the cap in 2006 by $150,000 it would be the same breach as the Roosters, who won the premiership four years earlier.

When the Herald exposed they had been disguising payments to utility player, Craig Wing, the Roosters were merely fined $150,000, the same amount as their breach.

The sacked Storm directors protest they had no access to the Deloitte report to satisfy themselves the figures are accurate, while News Ltd has obfuscated over its responsibility of monitoring the Storm's lavish spending over a five-year period.

It is expected the directors, now stripped of any role with the club, will withdraw their legal action.

The key points
$3.17m in salary cap breaches between 2006 and 2010

Breaches in 2007 ($551,032) and 2009 ($964,877) more than double original estimates

Club estimated to be $1.225m over the 2011 salary cap

13 players identified as receiving payments not included in the salary cap

Players, who refused to be interviewed, believed to be unaware of breaches

Coach Craig Bellamy, who was interviewed by auditors, unaware of breaches

Five Storm management linked with salary cap breaches

Third-party payments to players disguised as ''donations'' or ''consulting fees''

No evidence independent directors aware of breaches

No evidence player agents whose clients had ''side letters'' aware of breaches

[stsae]

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...715-10cod.html

News Ltd the victim of 'elaborate cheating': Hartigan
BRAD WALTER
July 16, 2010
NEWS Ltd bosses revealed yesterday it never checked the audited accounts of the Storm because it had budgeted for the club to lose $6 million a year.

As a result, News Ltd chief executive John Hartigan and chief operating officer Peter Macourt said they did not suspect the Storm had committed to deals with players in excess of the NRL salary cap by $4.5 million over a six-year period that includes the 2011 season.

Each year, News Ltd draws $8 million from the NRL, in which it holds a 50 per cent stake, and uses that money to cover the losses of the Storm.

With the Storm being in a similar situation to AFL club Sydney in its formative years, Macourt said News Ltd did not question the huge sums of money the club asked for each year to balance its books.

''We always felt that starting a rugby league club in Melbourne was going to the take a substantial investment,'' he said. ''I think the issue we have looked at is that it loses $5 million or $6 million a year. We didn't have News Ltd go through the audited books but it wasn't inconsistent with the need to promote the Storm in Melbourne.''

Hartigan rejected suggestions News Ltd was tarnished by the salary cap scandal, but did accept responsibility: ''Absolutely, the buck stops at the top of any company.''

But he and Macourt insisted News Ltd had been the victim of ''wide-ranging and elaborate cheating'' involving up to five members of the club's management.

''Our original suspicion was that there was an elaborate and well-orchestrated deception by senior management at the club and that has been confirmed by the Deloitte investigation,'' Hartigan said.

''Whenever there is complicit behaviour by more than one person it is very hard to detect if there is fraud or some irregularity in the books of the company. Most of these involved payments of small amounts over a long period so that the amounts themselves wouldn't arouse suspicion.''

Because of the loss of sponsorship, fines and other cost blow-outs caused by the exposure of the Storm's salary cap rorting, Hartigan said News Ltd would have to increase its funding of the club to $14 million this year.

Despite the losses, he said News Ltd would not walk away from the club and also ruled out selling the Storm until it was successful both on the field and off.

''It is not an issue [selling the club] at the moment because you have got a club that has got a sickness about it,'' he said.

''We wouldn't even dream of selling it until it is fully rehabilitated.

''We don't own football teams as some sort of vanity … We are about building strong franchises, we are not about owning football teams, but we are certainly about looking after their welfare.''

Source: The Age



Isht this bloke BourbonBekkys root??? This sorta propaganda surely must be mounted in the boodwar???

[elo]

Link: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/l...715-10cof.html

O'Sullivan to seek legal advice after report
GLENN JACKSON, SYDNEY
July 16, 2010

Sue the bastards POS, sue em for everything.

[Guest]

I always hated the storm and thought they were cheats (not without due cause now it seems) but now I know they're a cancer that's probably going to kill league.

[Guest]

I don't think I could disagree with that more. I think if anything it proves that to run a great NRL team to be a serious contender in the competition the salary cap is clearly not enough. I know there is a problem for other clubs but they're usually great producers of juniors and there should be allowances for those also. We are supposed to have the best comp in the world, so why isn't it reflected with the payment?

[Vasco]

'Chief rat' ... Brian Waldron. Source: The Daily Telegraph

THE architect of the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal is still telling lies.
I rang Brian Waldron's mobile phone yesterday and got a message: "This is Brian Waldron, please leave your name and number, and I'll get back to you." Of course, he didn't.

And yesterday, two men who had nothing to do with the lies and the devious, grand-scale deception of Australia's greatest sporting fraud were left to face a grilling from a hostile media army.

John Hartigan and David Gallop were at times questioned as though they were the guilty parties.

Too bad that nobody asked: Where's Wally?

The Daily Telegraph understands he was holed up and hiding behind the dark security screen on the front door of his East Hawthorn home in suburban Melbourne.

Today I wanted to publish his mobile phone number (the lawyers wouldn't let me) because it's about time fans were given the opportunity to take out their anger on the man whose dishonesty has fractured a great football club.

It's all right to blame the players and say they knew about their deals. It's all right to blame the board, or the player agents.

It's all right to blame the sponsors and corporates who were allegedly funnelling money to the superstars from "donations".

The buck stops at the top. Always has, always will.

Brian Waldron orchestrated one of the most devious, underhanded and dishonest scams imaginable.

And what it's done is not just wreck the hopes and dreams of thousands of loyal Storm fans, but also partially destroy the season for every supporter of every club.

Whoever says this year's premiership-winning club won't always have an asterisk next to its name is wrong.

Every player, every coach and every fan wants to beat the Storm because they have been seen as the ultimate test.

Waldron should eventually have to face the music.

It's all right to say no to Deloitte investigators but it will be a different matter if Victorian Fraud Squad detectives or officers from the Australian Tax Department come knocking on your front door wanting a chat.

So where to from here?

We know Waldron was the engineer, the architect and the creator, and we probably didn't need an accountancy firm to tell us that.

News Limited's ongoing commitment to support the club ensures its future as long as Craig Bellamy and the new CEO, to be appointed next week, can make the tough calls and prune the playing ranks.

The most stirring comment from John Hartigan at his press conference yesterday was that the Storm would win another premiership - only this time it would be fair and square.

And then the ABC's Peter Wilkins asked why News would even want to remain involved after all that's happened and the revelation that the company was pouring $14 million into the club this year to make up for lost sponsors, memberships and general revenue.

"You know, that's a pretty good question," Hartigan said. "And I've asked myself it a few times.

"But the reality is that we believe rugby league is a great, great game and the players, you know, those four marquee players at the Storm, are as good as you will ever see in a generation of elite athletes."

The NRL, which has been hammered from many quarters, was finally justified for stripping the cheating club of two premierships.

And there is no way Craig Bellamy's players could be allowed to compete for points this year under the original estimate of breaches, and even more so once Deloitte discovered that the amount of rorting had almost doubled.

Understandably, Gallop was fired up and on the front foot when the same media members who had grilled Hartigan and his deputy Peter Macourt lobbed to NRL headquarters yesterday for round two with the NRL chief executive.

Even late yesterday afternoon I was getting phone calls from irate punters who suggested Gallop should stand down.

No mention of Waldron, just Gallop.

My website blog was deluged with criticism of the NRL and the fact that the cheating had gone unnoticed and undetected for so long by salary cap auditor Ian Schubert.

Gallop said: "I wonder what they'd be saying today if the Storm were still playing for points. Clearly, from these findings, that is unacceptable.

"As for the penalties that were originally handed down, we're comfortable we made the right calls."



Nice work Buzz. Rupert would be proud of you.