nobody to be charged with salary cap fraud - wtf?
Melbourne Storm executives won't be charged with fraud-related offences
Anthony Dowsley From: Herald Sun May 06, 2011 12:12PM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
Source: The Daily Telegraph
MELBOURNE Storm executives investigated over the salary cap breaches debacle will not be charged with fraud-related offences.
The protracted criminal investigation, which began in April last year, identified some potential offences, but detectives will not lay criminal charges relating to salary cap breaches.
The Storm debacle ended with former Storm executives being investigated.
The five Storm officials who were alleged to have had knowledge of the transactions that resulted in salary cap cheating were identified by News Ltd, owner of the Herald Sun, as chief executive Brian Waldron, Matt Hanson, Peter O'Sullivan, Cameron Vale and Paul Gregory.
Victoria Police say it cannot spare resources to pursue that matter any more.
"After a long and thorough assessment investigators have found no fraud related offences have been committed,'' a Victoria Police statement said.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related CoveragePolice abandon Storm salary cap case
The Australian, 33 minutes ago
Probes leave Storm in limbo
Herald Sun, 23 Nov 2010
News Ltd rejects Storm's Hanson claims
Perth Now, 20 Jul 2010
Guilty must pay a price
Herald Sun, 16 Jul 2010
Storm chiefs risk jail
Adelaide Now, 16 Jul 2010End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Investigators say they identified evidence that could be pursued in a criminal probe but they were complex because they occurred outside Victoria.
"We have decided not to pursue this line of enquiry as to do so would be extremely resource intensive and there is a high probability it would not result in any charges being laid,'' the statement said.
"Victoria Police understands other regulatory agencies have some jurisdiction in relation to the salary cap breaches and believe the criminal environment is not the most suitable way to prosecute this matter.''
The Storm scandal rocked Australian sport just over a year ago when it was revealed the club had grossly rorted the NRL salary cap.
Australian sport has never witnessed a more savage response to a cheating scandal.
Mr Waldron was named as the architect behind the rorting that saw the Storm stripped of two premierships, fined $500,000 and banned from earning points for a season.
The NRL revealed that Storm breached the salary cap by $1.7 million over five years by keeping a second set of payment books, hidden from authorities in another room.
Some players were allegedly paid in $15,000 increments with special game day bonuses dressed up as third-party hospitality payments.
At the time, NRL chief executive David Gallop said salary cap breaches would never be tolerated.
"They (Storm) had a long-term system of effectively two sets of books and the elaborate lengths they have gone through to cover this up has been extraordinary,'' he said.
The Victoria Police fraud squad, the Tax Office and the Victorian Office of State Revenue are among the bodies that have investigated the findings of a Deloitte audit of salary cap rorting at the Storm involving cars, flights, gift vouchers and other back-door payments.
Really? $1.7m over 5 years and the police aren't going to investigate? Call me crazy, but, this stinks! The only thing that I can suggest is that the roots of all this have been traced right back to news ltd and it's too expensive to get at the main offenders. If they won't lay charges, release the report and show us why!!!
Anthony Dowsley From: Herald Sun May 06, 2011 12:12PM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these?
Source: The Daily Telegraph
MELBOURNE Storm executives investigated over the salary cap breaches debacle will not be charged with fraud-related offences.
The protracted criminal investigation, which began in April last year, identified some potential offences, but detectives will not lay criminal charges relating to salary cap breaches.
The Storm debacle ended with former Storm executives being investigated.
The five Storm officials who were alleged to have had knowledge of the transactions that resulted in salary cap cheating were identified by News Ltd, owner of the Herald Sun, as chief executive Brian Waldron, Matt Hanson, Peter O'Sullivan, Cameron Vale and Paul Gregory.
Victoria Police say it cannot spare resources to pursue that matter any more.
"After a long and thorough assessment investigators have found no fraud related offences have been committed,'' a Victoria Police statement said.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related CoveragePolice abandon Storm salary cap case
The Australian, 33 minutes ago
Probes leave Storm in limbo
Herald Sun, 23 Nov 2010
News Ltd rejects Storm's Hanson claims
Perth Now, 20 Jul 2010
Guilty must pay a price
Herald Sun, 16 Jul 2010
Storm chiefs risk jail
Adelaide Now, 16 Jul 2010End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Investigators say they identified evidence that could be pursued in a criminal probe but they were complex because they occurred outside Victoria.
"We have decided not to pursue this line of enquiry as to do so would be extremely resource intensive and there is a high probability it would not result in any charges being laid,'' the statement said.
"Victoria Police understands other regulatory agencies have some jurisdiction in relation to the salary cap breaches and believe the criminal environment is not the most suitable way to prosecute this matter.''
The Storm scandal rocked Australian sport just over a year ago when it was revealed the club had grossly rorted the NRL salary cap.
Australian sport has never witnessed a more savage response to a cheating scandal.
Mr Waldron was named as the architect behind the rorting that saw the Storm stripped of two premierships, fined $500,000 and banned from earning points for a season.
The NRL revealed that Storm breached the salary cap by $1.7 million over five years by keeping a second set of payment books, hidden from authorities in another room.
Some players were allegedly paid in $15,000 increments with special game day bonuses dressed up as third-party hospitality payments.
At the time, NRL chief executive David Gallop said salary cap breaches would never be tolerated.
"They (Storm) had a long-term system of effectively two sets of books and the elaborate lengths they have gone through to cover this up has been extraordinary,'' he said.
The Victoria Police fraud squad, the Tax Office and the Victorian Office of State Revenue are among the bodies that have investigated the findings of a Deloitte audit of salary cap rorting at the Storm involving cars, flights, gift vouchers and other back-door payments.
Really? $1.7m over 5 years and the police aren't going to investigate? Call me crazy, but, this stinks! The only thing that I can suggest is that the roots of all this have been traced right back to news ltd and it's too expensive to get at the main offenders. If they won't lay charges, release the report and show us why!!!
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Diehard_Storm
- Thunderstorm
- Posts: 576
- Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2005 2:28 pm
This is the police's way of saying: Get your hand off it guys - this is hardly serious stuff.
We still await the NRL's 'comprehensive' report from their internal investigation which they've been hinting at releasing for weeks now, but strangely have fallen silent on. I'm sure they'll wait until its been through News Limiteds Lawyers and PR machine before it ever gets made public.
It is an absolute joke, that one of Australia's biggest sporting scandals has just fallen into a contrived messy anticlimax. Employees of News Limited allegedly committed a crime by knowingly rorting the salary cap and falsifying legal documents.
As a result, the Storm team including players, coaches, fans, members were heavily penalised instantly.
However, News Limited continue to operate the Storm, run the NRL and continue to act as if nothing wrong has happened. They sacked the independent directors, yet retain the News Limited ones who shared responsibility over the operations of the club.
Agents continue to negotiate contracts with clubs, despite being linked with the scandal.
Bookmakers, police and the NRL continue to find nothing untoward in relation to a magical betting plunge on the Storm winning the spoon before news broke.
What we continue to see is teams throw money around at players like theres no tomorrow, leaving most fans suspicious of how they can afford it. I dont blame fans for feeling suspicious. Nothing has been done to fix this. To remove its stench. To make a giant step into a much fairer and transparent process in keeping the competition fair.
Has News Limited approved any substantial funding to administer the Salary Cap? Has Ian Schubert been given any additional support or personnel or is it still himself and his dog responsible for overseeing 16 clubs and over $64m in salaries and 3rd party bonuses flying around.
Who is going to ensure the newest private owner, Billionaire Nathan Tinkler, doesnt just provide some informal rewards or incentives to his playing roster. A man so desperate for sporting success, who's not short of a dollar, may find it simply too easy to shower players with cash bonuses, nice suits, free dinners, etc etc. No one is suggesting a Tinkler, or Russell Crowe, or the Thoroughbreds would do anything illegal - but the point is, we didnt learn our lesson after the Dogs. We better learn the lesson after the Storm. But from my perspective, its seems its the same old shit, different year.
The NRL were a joke of an administration. The joke is getting old fast. AFL is plowing ahead at a million miles an hour. Yet we can't even organise a regular season, whereby two of the top teams meet in one of the years biggest games 24 hours after their players represent Australia and New Zealand, and are forced to reduce the spectacle to little more than a reserve grade match.
Our players deserve better. The fans deserve better.
Rant. Over.
We still await the NRL's 'comprehensive' report from their internal investigation which they've been hinting at releasing for weeks now, but strangely have fallen silent on. I'm sure they'll wait until its been through News Limiteds Lawyers and PR machine before it ever gets made public.
It is an absolute joke, that one of Australia's biggest sporting scandals has just fallen into a contrived messy anticlimax. Employees of News Limited allegedly committed a crime by knowingly rorting the salary cap and falsifying legal documents.
As a result, the Storm team including players, coaches, fans, members were heavily penalised instantly.
However, News Limited continue to operate the Storm, run the NRL and continue to act as if nothing wrong has happened. They sacked the independent directors, yet retain the News Limited ones who shared responsibility over the operations of the club.
Agents continue to negotiate contracts with clubs, despite being linked with the scandal.
Bookmakers, police and the NRL continue to find nothing untoward in relation to a magical betting plunge on the Storm winning the spoon before news broke.
What we continue to see is teams throw money around at players like theres no tomorrow, leaving most fans suspicious of how they can afford it. I dont blame fans for feeling suspicious. Nothing has been done to fix this. To remove its stench. To make a giant step into a much fairer and transparent process in keeping the competition fair.
Has News Limited approved any substantial funding to administer the Salary Cap? Has Ian Schubert been given any additional support or personnel or is it still himself and his dog responsible for overseeing 16 clubs and over $64m in salaries and 3rd party bonuses flying around.
Who is going to ensure the newest private owner, Billionaire Nathan Tinkler, doesnt just provide some informal rewards or incentives to his playing roster. A man so desperate for sporting success, who's not short of a dollar, may find it simply too easy to shower players with cash bonuses, nice suits, free dinners, etc etc. No one is suggesting a Tinkler, or Russell Crowe, or the Thoroughbreds would do anything illegal - but the point is, we didnt learn our lesson after the Dogs. We better learn the lesson after the Storm. But from my perspective, its seems its the same old shit, different year.
The NRL were a joke of an administration. The joke is getting old fast. AFL is plowing ahead at a million miles an hour. Yet we can't even organise a regular season, whereby two of the top teams meet in one of the years biggest games 24 hours after their players represent Australia and New Zealand, and are forced to reduce the spectacle to little more than a reserve grade match.
Our players deserve better. The fans deserve better.
Rant. Over.
A thousand times this.Diehard_Storm wrote:This is the police's way of saying: Get your hand off it guys - this is hardly serious stuff.
We still await the NRL's 'comprehensive' report from their internal investigation which they've been hinting at releasing for weeks now, but strangely have fallen silent on. I'm sure they'll wait until its been through News Limiteds Lawyers and PR machine before it ever gets made public.
It is an absolute joke, that one of Australia's biggest sporting scandals has just fallen into a contrived messy anticlimax. Employees of News Limited allegedly committed a crime by knowingly rorting the salary cap and falsifying legal documents.
As a result, the Storm team including players, coaches, fans, members were heavily penalised instantly.
However, News Limited continue to operate the Storm, run the NRL and continue to act as if nothing wrong has happened. They sacked the independent directors, yet retain the News Limited ones who shared responsibility over the operations of the club.
Agents continue to negotiate contracts with clubs, despite being linked with the scandal.
Bookmakers, police and the NRL continue to find nothing untoward in relation to a magical betting plunge on the Storm winning the spoon before news broke.
What we continue to see is teams throw money around at players like theres no tomorrow, leaving most fans suspicious of how they can afford it. I dont blame fans for feeling suspicious. Nothing has been done to fix this. To remove its stench. To make a giant step into a much fairer and transparent process in keeping the competition fair.
Has News Limited approved any substantial funding to administer the Salary Cap? Has Ian Schubert been given any additional support or personnel or is it still himself and his dog responsible for overseeing 16 clubs and over $64m in salaries and 3rd party bonuses flying around.
Who is going to ensure the newest private owner, Billionaire Nathan Tinkler, doesnt just provide some informal rewards or incentives to his playing roster. A man so desperate for sporting success, who's not short of a dollar, may find it simply too easy to shower players with cash bonuses, nice suits, free dinners, etc etc. No one is suggesting a Tinkler, or Russell Crowe, or the Thoroughbreds would do anything illegal - but the point is, we didnt learn our lesson after the Dogs. We better learn the lesson after the Storm. But from my perspective, its seems its the same old shit, different year.
The NRL were a joke of an administration. The joke is getting old fast. AFL is plowing ahead at a million miles an hour. Yet we can't even organise a regular season, whereby two of the top teams meet in one of the years biggest games 24 hours after their players represent Australia and New Zealand, and are forced to reduce the spectacle to little more than a reserve grade match.
Our players deserve better. The fans deserve better.
Rant. Over.
Rant away Diehard_Storm. Well said!!
I hope this news provokes the same ruthless enthusiasm against the Broncos tomorrow night as it did against the Warriors on April 25 last year after news of the scandal first broke.
GO STORM!!
[ Post made via iPhone ]
I hope this news provokes the same ruthless enthusiasm against the Broncos tomorrow night as it did against the Warriors on April 25 last year after news of the scandal first broke.
GO STORM!!
[ Post made via iPhone ]
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Bourbon Rat
- Player Sponsor
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- Location: THE INDEPENDENT STORM
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This ain't brain surgery 
There was never going to be anyone 'charged with fraud'.This is why the NRL refused to let anyone take cuts to their contracts,because those contracts although 'illegal' under NRL rules were totally legal & binding under REAL laws.
I guess Gallop an Co will NOT release the much anticipated censored,(doctored) report now,as it carryies no weight & is unlikely to do damage to the 2011 Storm machine
Like Gauci says - We've moved on,(But we the fans haven't forgotten those that caused the pain
)
There was never going to be anyone 'charged with fraud'.This is why the NRL refused to let anyone take cuts to their contracts,because those contracts although 'illegal' under NRL rules were totally legal & binding under REAL laws.
I guess Gallop an Co will NOT release the much anticipated censored,(doctored) report now,as it carryies no weight & is unlikely to do damage to the 2011 Storm machine
Like Gauci says - We've moved on,(But we the fans haven't forgotten those that caused the pain
)Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake - WC Fields
They shall not move on, as we who are left move on,
wages shall not be queeried with them, nor their sins condemned,
at the end of the season, and the new one's dawning,
we shall remember,
lest we forget!
I know this is the ode to remembrance commonly read in the last post, but, I think its message is important to our club and its administration. This must NEVER happen again!
wages shall not be queeried with them, nor their sins condemned,
at the end of the season, and the new one's dawning,
we shall remember,
lest we forget!
I know this is the ode to remembrance commonly read in the last post, but, I think its message is important to our club and its administration. This must NEVER happen again!