18 March 2016
The Daily Telegraph
UNDER fire Parramatta Eels chair Steve Sharp secretly had his pay more than doubled last year — 12 months after a similar proposal to Parramatta Leagues Club members was dismissed.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal pay rises were engineered for the entire board.
Mr Sharp was rewarded with a 150 per cent hike to $25,000 a year.
Other current directors, including deputy chairman Tom Issa and directors Peter Serrao and Geoff Gerard, also had their pay doubled to $20,000 a year.
In total, the Eels board received a pay rise of $75,000 a year.
Members were never told about the pay rise, which came within weeks of the Eels being informed they were to pay the NRL a record $465,000 fine for breaching the salary cap.
News of the secret pay rises comes as it also emerges that a resolution at the 2014 meeting for a 500 per cent pay increase to Mr Sharp from $10,000 to $60,000 a year in May 2014 was dismissed.
Members speaking against the motion at the time said directors should simply operate for “the honour of serving the club”.
The chairman and directors of the Leagues Club have traditionally been paid $10,000 a year.
It can also be revealed Liquor and Gaming NSW are investigating why a 2014 annual meeting notice contained no mention of the proposed 500 per cent pay rise for Mr Sharp.
This detail was only contained in an amended notice handed out to members on the night of the meeting on May 5.
This amended notice set out the payment of an “honoraria” of “$60,000 to the chairman”.
Several Eels members present at the meeting said last night they were angered by the changes to the agenda without notice.
The Dailly Telegraph yesterday handed over evidence of the discrepancies to Liquor and Gaming NSW.
A spokesman last night confirmed they were investigating the documents: “Liquor and Gaming is assessing the information you have provided,” he said.
It is understood that months after the proposal failed at the Leagues Club AGM, moves were made to find other ways to ensure directors received a pay rise.
Insiders confirm that the pay rise was achieved through the Leagues Club’s wholly owned subsidiary, Parramatta NRL Club Pty Ltd, which owns the Eels rugby league club and franchise.
The directors on both the Leagues Club and the NRL Club are identical, with Mr Sharp and Mr Issa the chairman and deputy chairman of both.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the pay rise was engineered by Leagues Club CEO and company secretary Bevan Paul proposing a “shareholders’ resolution” for the Eels NRL club to pay its directors $10,000, and $15,000 for the chairman. Previously, they had not been paid for this role.
By this mechanism, the increase could be awarded without the directors — who had a conflict of interest — having to vote on the resolution.
Instead Mr Paul, representing the interests of Leagues Club members, voted alone in favour of the pay rises.
Parramatta CEO and company secretary Bevan Paul
It was almost exactly 12 months after at a meeting of those members where the pay rises were dismissed.
Last year, the $80-million-a-year Leagues Club subsidised the Eels rugby league team to the tune of $8 million.
An Eels spokesman last night defended the decision not to inform members of the pay rise.
“There are no financial members of the NRL Club, so it doesn’t need to go to a members’ vote,” he said.
The spokesman said the fees of Mr Sharp, Mr Issa and their fellow directors were “below those of some other NRL clubs”.
He said that despite the fact the Leagues Club and Eels boards were identical, they had “separate board meetings and separate committees”.
However, he confirmed that previous directors of the Eels NRL club “had not been paid”.
The pay rise revelations are the latest development in a boardroom and salary cap scandal engulfing the club.
The Daily Telegraph has exposed a pattern of poor corporate governance at the Eels, which includes a series of board minutes that revealed a systemic culture of breaching the NRL’s salary cap.
Replies
Sneaky basta#ds
This was always going to come out, was just a matter of time.
But wait..............theres more to come unfortunately.
We should be sponsored by Demtel.
And the board will get a free set of steak knives
firmly lodged in their backs
LOL true snake. I bet the knives come out now.
Theres nothing illegal in this i wouldnt think, but it is very sneaky, the members said no to their pay rises but they find a way to do it on the sly anyway and give themselves a 100% pay rise, its another sign of disrespect to the supporters who elected them, im sure Steve will find some spin to deliver the fans next time he speaks and treats them like fools.
20K is a small amount of money but its not the point, i hope they enjoyed it because none of them will ever hold any sort of position at the eels after this is finished apart from being a regular supporter like the rest of us, time to climb down out of the ivory tower gents.
I can't believe these dopes honestly thought all this wouldn't leak out?
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