Eels boss tied up in Sharks' mystery fund

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday June 16, 2009

Brad Walter

THE NRL is investigating whether money donated to the Cronulla Sharks by a dying fan was being used to rort the salary cap. And it also emerged that the new Parramatta Leagues Club chairman, Roy Spagnolo, may have known more about the finances of the Sharks than that club's chairman, Barry Pierce.Mr Spagnolo's accounting firm set up a fund, the Sharks Forever Foundation, into which the $30,000 donation was deposited and of which the Cronulla board was unaware.The foundation's three directors are all employees of Roy Spagnolo & Associates.Mr Spagnolo and the former Cronulla chief executive Tony Zappia are close friends, and Zappia, a former Eels football manager, has been eyeing a return to Parramatta as chief executive following the departure of Denis Fitzgerald.Mr Spagnolo told the Herald he was not personally involved in setting up the fund, which had been reduced to $20,000 after $10,000 was allegedly used to pay for training camps for Cronulla players at Kiama.The fan, 27, who does not want to be identified, approached Mr Zappia about nine months ago to discuss donating some of a $13.8 million life insurance payout to the club. The fan, who is dying from a neurological disorder known as Shy-Drager syndrome, said yesterday he would continue to support the club."I've been an idiot for trusting Tony Zappia with the money ... if the Sharks were to take over management of the fund then I would have no problems with continuing to donate," he said.The NRL chief executive, David Gallop yesterday, instructed the NRL's salary cap auditor, Ian Schubert, to look into the finances of the Sharks after it was revealed that the $30,000 was being held in the secret account."It goes without saying that it is highly unusual to do business like that," Mr Gallop said. "On the face of it, it would also require us to look at it from a salary cap point of view, and I've asked Ian Schubert to do that urgently."Mr Zappia, who resigned from the Sharks last Thursday, has been called to a meeting today to explain to directors where the money came from and how it was to be used.

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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