NRL: Eyes on the Storm

Cooper Cronk. Photo / Getty Images

Reports from Australia suggest that forces are massing against some involved in the Melbourne Storm salary cap controversy.

Liquidators for the Unity Foundation have threatened legal action to recoup money paid to the Storm's Greg Inglis and Cooper Cronk, according to reports in The Weekend Australian yesterday.

Vince and Associates director Kylie Wright told The Weekend Australian the liquidation firm was prepared to chase Inglis and Cronk through the courts if the pair refused to return money they were paid by the charity, or failed to provide evidence of their activities.

The Unity Foundation, started by former St Kilda footballers Xavier Clarke and Allan Murray, was put into liquidation two years ago and featured prominently in the Deloitte investigation into the salary cap scandal.

The investigation found the Storm made "donations" worth A$145,000 to the foundation. It also discovered A$85,000 was paid to Storm players, including Inglis and Cronk. The liquidator wrote to the Storm two months ago asking Inglis and Cronk to provide details of work they carried out for the organisation.

While Deloitte found no evidence of the liquidator's allegations and no evidence the players were aware the payments were designed to avoid the cap, they will press ahead with plans to launch legal action if their questions remain.

Clarke and Murray played at St Kilda when former Storm chief executive Brian Waldron, identified as the architect of the Storm rorts, was the AFL club's chief executive. The Weekend Australian said it was believed Inglis and Cronk were paid five-figure sums by the charity, although the exact figures are yet to be finalised.

Meanwhile, in a separate report from Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper, the Australian Taxation Office is said to be preparing to launch an unprecedented investigation into all NRL clubs in the wake of the Melbourne Storm scandal.

The Herald Sun said the ATO will use its investigation of possible breaches at the Storm as a "pilot" for a full-scale tax investigation of the NRL. That could mean all NRL teams, players and sponsors will come under the spotlight. Other sporting teams could also be drawn into the investigation.

Victoria Police have a copy of the Deloitte report into salary cap breaches at Storm, which means an investigation into the club could begin as soon as tomorrow. The report would also be sent to the ATO and the State Revenue Office early next week, a News Ltd source said.

Chris Seage, a former senior ATO auditor who now runs his own tax practice, told the Herald Sun the Storm investigation would be just the start.

"They're treating it as a pilot process," he said. "If the allegations are founded, they will expand it to other clubs."

The Deloitte report shows some players received free flights, gift vouchers and fully maintained cars. It also found the main method used to rort the salary cap involved payments to players via third parties. Taxes that may have been underpaid include payroll, fringe benefits, goods and services, and income.

Mr Seage said the ATO was likely to look into rumours that some clubs had paid players cash in "brown paper bags".

He said the ATO was keen to pursue high-profile tax evasion cases because it served as a deterrent for other would-be tax evaders.

- Agencies