Parramatta will pay $500,000 to settle a Supreme Court case that was poised to revisit the dodgy deals paid to Jarryd Hayne and Anthony Watmough that led to the club’s salary cap scandal.
Liquidators for Blackcitrus, one of the firms embroiled in the saga that rocked the Eels in 2016, lodged a lawsuit seeking $1,177,601 for the company’s creditors. The action was scheduled for a hearing last month after bubbling away in the Supreme Court for four years.
Had it gone to a hearing, the details of the payments that went to former Eels stars Hayne and Watmough through Scorecube – a wholly owned subsidiary of Blackcitrus – would have been heard in public courtroom proceedings.
In its statement of defence, the Eels claimed that then-chief executive Scott Seward brokered a heads of agreement with Blackcitrus without the knowledge of the board.
“… The plaintiff was at all material times aware that the HOA was a sham and that the true purpose of the arrangement was to provide payments to player Anthony Watmough in avoidance of the NRL Salary Cap Rules; and … that the HOA was at all times void and of no legal effect by reason of its illegal nature and/or as against public policy.”
The defence further claimed that the plaintiff failed to perform the work pursuant to the heads of agreement and that their invoices didn’t reflect the services performed at value.
Sources not authorised to speak publicly due to confidentiality told this masthead that the Eels have agreed to pay $500,000 to settle the matter, which will officially be finalised in the next week.
The development will officially close the book on one of the darkest chapters in Parramatta’s history. The Eels were docked 12 competition points, fined $1 million, stripped of the 2016 Auckland Nines title and forced to offload players after being found to have systematically rorted the salary cap. The saga also led to the removal of the board and a raft of corporate governance changes.
The current Eels hierarchy opted to settle the matter rather than let it play out in the Supreme Court. The agreement prevents the ghosts of the scandal being dredged up publicly at a time when rookie coach Jason Ryles is attempting to earn his first win of the season.
Parramatta sits at the bottom of the ladder after a horror 0-4 start to the campaign, which has been rocked by the defection of Dylan Brown to Newcastle at the end of the year and the absence of halves partner Mitchell Moses with a foot injury.
The Eels face the Dragons at CommBank on Saturday, marking the first time Dragons recruit Clint Gutherson and Parramatta counterpart Zac Lomax face their former clubs for the first time.
