Sutherland:
But when it comes to an ATO public can of worms, Carlton as serial cap
cheats are the champions with illegal payments to players placing the
club in so much turmoil that it ultimately saw John Elliott dumped as
club president in 2002. In December 2002, the ATO revealed it was
investigating possible tax breaches after the AFL had fined the club
$930,000 for its latest cap cheating, which also attracted the
attention of corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and
Investments Commission. While ASIC was to weigh up breach of accounting
standards or the Corporations Law, the ATO would check out failure to
pay fringe benefits and other taxes. The club would also be asked to
respond to whether any players understated income from either match
payments or other sources, and under-paid tax.
But the ATO was already previously investigating under the table payments made by
one-time CEO Ian Collins to players in the early 90’s, assisted it
seems back then by another Carlton employee James Sutherland, now
Cricket Australia CEO. Among matters under ATO investigation was one
player being paid a total of $70,000 outside the cap in a sham deal to
a private company, with Collins also alleged to have instigated in a
similar fashion, payments of some $150,000 spread over three years to
former Blues star and two-time Brownlow Medalist, Greg Williams.
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Blues star paid in secret
28mar03
CARLTON secretly channelled $200,000 to star centreman Greg Williams through a private construction company to cheat the AFL salary cap.
The payments were disguised by then Blues chiefs Ian Collins and James Sutherland as ground maintenance work. Yet no work was ever done.
It has been revealed that Collins, chief executive of Telstra Dome, was central to the affair.
James Sutherland, Australian Cricket Board chief executive, signed or co-signed with Collins many of the cheques and payment requisitions central to the sham. The company used to hide the payments, Amigo Constructions Pty Ltd, also had Sports Minister Justin Madden as a director. Amigo was wound up voluntarily last September.
According to documents seen by the Herald Sun, the payments to Williams were made in the financial years of 1993, 1994 and 1995.
The documents name Collins, then the Blues' executive director, and Sutherland, then the club's finance manager.
Collins has recently returned to Carlton after deposing John Elliott as president.
Documents say Collins had an "active and material involvement" in the payments, and "(mis)representation of those payments in the records of Carlton".
Cheques made out to Amigo for amounts of $25,000, and internal documents requesting payments to Amigo bear Sutherland's signature, the documents say.
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