Saracens Boss Brendan Venter has been found guilty of misconduct and been slapped with with a fine for criticizing the body that runs the Heineken Cup, the tournament, the match officials and rugby.

Venter has however had part of the fine suspended until 30 June 2012, and full amount would be payable only if Venter gets in trouble again with officials.

The South African appeared before an independent Disciplinary Committee in Dublin as the result of a misconduct complaint lodged against him by ERC following the Round 2 Heineken Cup Pool 2 match between Saracens and Leinster at Wembley Stadium, on 16 October, 2010.

Venter, who pleaded not guilty, made a number of comments to media representatives in which he brought into disrepute ERC, the tournament, the match officials and the sport of rugby union.

The independent Disciplinary Committee was made up of Jean-Noel Couraud (France, Chairman), Antony Davies (England) and Pat Barriscale (Ireland) while Venter was accompanied at the hearing by Saracens Chief Executive, Edward Griffiths.

After considering the evidence and hearing Venter’s submissions the Committee found that he was guilty of misconduct in that he had been inappropriately critical of ERC, the tournament, the match officials and the sport of rugby union and they imposed a fine of Euro 25,000.

However, Euro 15,000 of the Euro 25,000 fine will be suspended until 30 June 2012, and would be payable only if Mr Venter is found guilty of further acts of misconduct arising from ERC tournaments before that date.

Venter’s comments to media representatives were contrary to the 2010/11 Heineken Cup Participation Agreement, and it commented that in the future, the appropriate channels should be used for any communication on such matters.

Last season Venter started with a suspended sentence following a complaint in the Premiership only for Venter to eventually be banned for the Premiership final after an incident at Leicester Tigers.