LIVE NOW! STORM RORTS REVEALED ***URL CHANGED***

[eagles2win]

In the hands of the police now, they said.

and the ATO and the Victorian Revnue Office

 

[Kiero]

From the ABC:
"Accounting firm Deloitte has confirmed the Melbourne Storm's breaches of the NRL salary amount to nearly double what owner News Limited predicted.

The audit, commissioned by News, has concluded that the club's breaches tallied $3.17 million from 2006 until the end of this season, a figure 83 per cent higher than the NRL's initial estimate of $1.7 million.

The Deloitte investigation said the Storm would be $1.3 million over the cap in 2011 with their current roster of stars.

News Limited says it has removed the club's four independent directors because of the legal action they have launched against the NRL.

It says no players agreed to be interviewed during the audit."

I guess the last statement really says it all. The collective guilt, the belief that silence is the same as innocence. So throw the contracts on the table, clearly those guilty of rorting the system are prepared to see the blameless tarred with the same brush as the greedy. Hows that for mateship?  

Doesn't the position of the players remind you of the scenario taken by the Bulldogs?

 

[Guest]

If the police ask questions...the players wont have any choices in talking or not

 

[jwaa]

If the police ask questions...the players wont have any choices in talking or not

The ramifications this has on the game as a whole will be disastrous

 

[bob dylan]

If the police ask questions...the players wont have any choices in talking or not

You always have a choice, thats the great thing about this country.

But you can be punished because of your choices, thats another great thing about this country.

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

Police won't be involved, but you can bet the ATO will!!

 

[Av8r]

No Dan it's not an admission of guilt but to me it says a lot about their ethics.

 

[Dan]

No Dan it's not an admission of guilt but to me it says a lot about their ethics.

agreed

 

[Fro]

Unfortunately unless this becomes a criminal investigation the players don't have to talk and thus can not prove their innocence or guilt and therefore are currently innocent.

Wrong Dan, currently they have not been proven guilty, therefore are CONSIDERED innocent.

Doesnt mean they are, by any definition except legally

And I am making no inferences about whether or not they did it or not here.

 

[fLIP]

I would wager their managers pressure had more to do with them not talking than taking an idividual stand.

There would have been a lot of manager out there that knew something fishy was going on with 3rd party payments off contract but at the end of the day they take their cut.

 

[eagles2win]

Police won't be involved, but you can bet the ATO will!!

News have handed the finding's to the Victorian Police

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

yes that's for the Directors part NOT the players part

 

[Guest]

What I simply cannot understand is why News Limited (The Clubs Owner) didn't direct all of the Directors to co-operate and if they didn't, why they were not sacked.

 

[Av8r]

Maybe they will be sacked. Isn't the normal procedure to ask for resignations first?

 

[Dan]

Someone surely needs to do a Sgt Schultz "I know nussing" spoof for the Storm players

 

[Guest]

that is not an admission or proof of guilt though sumdumguy.

Unfortunately unless this becomes a criminal investigation the players don't have to talk and thus can not prove their innocence or guilt and therefore are currently innocent.

Remember things have to follow the law and due process here

.. dan they dont have to say anything their signatures on the dodgy contracts alone are enough eveidence..

 

[Kiero]

“Hartigan said 13 current and former Storm players - Billy Slater, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Hoffman, Brett White, Anthony Quinn, Dallas Johnson, Will Chambers, Mick Crocker, Matt Geyer, Steve Turner and Antonio Kaufusi - received third-party payments or benefits which were not included in the salary cap.”

It shows that the emotions and distress shown by the likes of Cameron Smith after the Storm debacle all blew up were nothing more than crocodile tears.

The Storm players are apparently prepared to take a paycut for next year, how about getting all these players to return the overpayments for the last 3 years?

 

[clontaago]

The Directors have been sacked.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Scape-directors.

 

[CussCuss]

Sigh.

Ok heres the way it works.

Yes the players would have known they were recieving extra payments, but this is not unusual or illegal. If you have a look at the history of salary cap breaches 90% of them are for 3rd party payments declared but reclassified to be included under the salary cap.
This means that there are plenty of 3rd party payments out there that are not part of the salary cap and perfectly legal.

It is not the players job to determine if their pay is outside of the salary cap or not, its the managers and accountants, thats what they are there for, they know the ins and outs of what is exempt and what isnt. If a player is told that payment x is outside of the salary cap, then thats is good enough, they are not lawyers nor are they required to be.

Think of it this way, your accountant says he can knock an extra 10k off your taxable income, using x, y, and z. He says its legal and fine so you go with it. You are not required to learn the ins and outs of tax law, thats what the accountant is there for. If, in good faith, they can tell you that what they are doing is all legit, then that is all that is required of you.

Now im not saying that is neccesarily how it went down, but it is a possible legitimate scenario.