FORMER Eastern Province Kings player Ronnie Cooke has approached the courts alleging the South African Rugby Union (Saru) acted fraudulently during its administration of the beleaguered union.
Cooke, one of the players applying for the liquidation of the Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU), went to the specialised commercial crimes court on Tuesday, alleging Saru lied in court documents submitted in its bid to prevent the Kings from being liquidated.
Cooke said in an affidavit, seen by Business Day, that Saru deliberately withheld Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium managers Access Management, owed R24.747m, from the list of EPRU creditors.
In court documents handed in on May 24, Saru listed 74 creditors who were owed a total of R58.379m by the EPRU, of which R16.162m and R14.700m was owed to Saru and the South African Revenue Service, respectively. Access Management was not listed.
Saru had "spent millions of rand to subdue the rightful recovery of monies owed to players and creditors and they’ve been doing this for years", Cooke said.
"They (Saru) are not assisting as they have not upheld their own constitution and continuously flout and violate its rules. Had they assisted in a bona fide way, they would have insured that (EP Kings’) financial statements were submitted from 2013, which they (didn’t), probably … because those selfsame SA Rugby people sat on the Southern Kings board and are complicit in this illegal action."
Last year, Saru appointed executive committee member Monde Tabata as administrator after the union was plunged into a financial crisis and failed to pay its players, management and staff. Since assuming the reins at the EPRU, Tabata, aided by lawyer Paul Bester, has been in and out of court trying to overturn a provisional liquidation court order handed down in March to a more favourable business rescue plan.
In January, 36 players approached the High Court in Port Elizabeth claiming R18m in unpaid salaries. Business Day understands EPRU staff have not been paid since September last year and that the Currie Cup players are on amateur contracts.
Cooke also questioned Saru’s intervention in the Super Rugby franchise, the Southern Kings, saying 20 players were strong-armed into signing Super Rugby contacts with SA Rugby Travel, of which Saru CEO Jurie Roux is apparently the sole director.
Saru in a statement "strongly denies and rejects" Cooke’s allegations in his affidavit relating to the business rescue plan.
Cooke also said in his statement Saru had lined up a bogus company, Integrated Sports, to
bail the union out with a R100m cash injection.
"Integrated Sports is an entity that neither trades nor has a bank account, whose letterhead is falsely signed by an insolvent Chris Wishlade," he said.
