Leigh Heard, Sharks chief operations officer, has been dismissed for gross misconduct.
A disciplinary hearing into allegations of “serious misconduct” by a senior staff member of the KZN Sharks rugby administration has exposed a number of alleged breaches in the financial management of the globally revered sport franchise.
A 47-page report described as “highly sensitive” and leaked to the Tribune this week details a litany of apparent unethical financial practice, spanning more than a decade.
Claims of irregular payments for “deserving” staff members, gifts and bonuses, free luxury stadium suites, inflated bonuses, free cars, nepotism, poor accounting and large unauthorised handouts were all part of the mix.
Sunday Tribune
A source close to Sharks (Pty) Ltd said that several months ago a forensic investigation had been initiated as part of a good business practice to ensure sound financial management within its business.
Said one Sharks board member who asked not to be named: “It is in the public interest that we have a squeaky clean operation. As a global icon the Sharks are responsible to their supporters and the next generation of supporters to be honest and above reproach.”
The disciplinary charges subsequently brought against Leigh Heard, the Sharks (Pty) Ltd’s financial manager, were based, the Sunday Tribune was informed, on the results of the forensic investigation.
The primary allegation against Heard was that, on being awarded an expense allowance, she used the account to process personal expenses, thus avoiding VAT and PAYE.
Among the charges put to Heard were that she instructed the salaries department to pay her a special payment of R 92 136 and a further amount of R 143 500. Accountants called to testify suggested that she was not authorised to give such an instruction nor entitled to these amounts. Other allegations included buying goods for her home, including a TV, with the VAT being paid by her employer.
Earlier this year the Tribune hinted at the fact that a newly appointed Sharks’ board, headed by former Springbok and Sharks rugby captain, John Smit, had found that there were certain issues within the administrative arm that needed to be sorted out.
Heard, who was found guilty of gross negligence and summarily dismissed from the job she had held for 12 years, claimed she worked in a climate where illegal practices were rife.
She told the Durban tribunal investigating the suspected irregularities that she was only doing what everyone else in the Sharks administration was doing. And that was to bypass the taxman wherever possible.
In her defence, Heard said she was being unfairly targeted and asked why other so-called infringements, like scouting fees, sanctioned by Sharks Pty Ltd were acceptable, whereas hers weren’t.
Other infringements, she said, included image rights payments to some players in the Sharks squad and the non-payment of taxes by members of the board for honorarium allowances.
Heard said while she conceded that what she did was wrong, it did not render her unfit for office as she could refund any taxes that might be due. She admitted that income tax documents should have been issued to all board members receiving honorariums, but she had been told not to issue them.
She said it was not her place to go ahead with it as she “wasn’t part of the men’s club” and was just the “chick in finance”.
Although she knew that things weren’t right from a tax point of view, she said she had no voice to challenge the previous regime who she claimed would not have looked on her favourably if she had done so.
Giving evidence before the tribunal, businessman and chairman of the board for Sharks (Pty) Ltd, Stephen Saad said that he had been sought for his business and financial expertise. He said that last year was a tense time with Smit taking over the reins.
Saad stated that Heard was upset about Smit’s appointment as the new Sharks’ chief executive as she felt that she should have been given the job because her “safe pair of hands” would keep things running.
Early last year, the Sharks operation had received a tip-off from a whistle-blower alleging “all sorts of financial irregularities.
“I initially thought that this was a grudge against Leigh Heard and never imagined that any of the allegations could be true,” Saad told the tribunal.
“The offences” he said “were very serious and had irretrievably damaged the trust relationship.”
Using funds of R40 000 to go to Mauritius and pay for art, Saad said, was “not doing things “right.”
He said the Sharks had made a number of voluntary disclosures to SARS in relation to Heard’s irregularities and would assist SARS in any way it thought appropriate.
The hearing took place between June and last month. The employer was represented by Machael Maeso from Shepstone and Wylie Attorneys and Heard was represented by advocate Paul Schumann instructed by Larson Falconer.
A spokesperson for the Sharks said they believed that the independent chairperson’s sanction of summary dismissal in the circumstances was justified
Heard has referred a dispute of an unfair dismissal to the CCMA.
The charges against Heard:
- Paying herself an expense allowance and / or bonus which was not properly authorised.
- Claiming personal expenses as expense allowances.
- Concealing personal expenses by creating journal entries that had no bearing on the actual expenses incurred.
- Processing or giving instructions to process personal expenses through the financial records of Sharks (Pty) Ltd.
- Instructions to pay her a special payment of R 92 136 in February 2009 and a further instruction to pay her an amount of R 143 500 in respect of a “car allowance”, both of which the employee was not authorised to do.
- Destroying the trust necessary for an ongoing employment relationship.
- Authorising payment for printing cartridges to a family business.
The findings:
Heard was found guilty on three of these counts:
- Claiming personal expenses as expense allowances, contrary to proper use of an expense account without any / proper authorisation.
- Deliberately concealing personal expenses by creating entries that bore no relationship to the actual expenses incurred with the view to limiting personal income tax.
- An unauthorised payment to herself of R 143 500 as part of a rugby suite “swop” when she was not authorised or entitled to this amount.
Heard’s response:
“I was charged with eight counts of misconduct and found guilty on three, most of which I conceded,” she said.
“Most of the charges relate to my conduct of an approved expense account for which I did not pay certain fringe benefit tax. I am currently in discussions with SARS to rectify this.”
She said none of the charges against her were related to theft and she was disappointed that her “minor indiscretions” were considered serious enough to cause her dismissal.
“The Sharks (Pty) Ltd and KZNRU (rugby union) have far bigger tax avoidance issues which they steadfastly refuse to take responsibility for,” she said
“These include issues relating to the players and their agents; the funds that pass between KZNRU / Sharks from sponsorship funds / prejudice suffered by the other shareholder in the company / treatment of benefits paid to other representatives of the company.”
In considering the sanction to be imposed upon her she said she had asked the disciplinary enquiry to consider her offences against “the ongoing tax avoidance” offences of the company.
“I had two independent experts support my complaint and the company relied upon one expert, whose independence was not properly established, who simply refuted my expert’s opinions.”
These are her main points:
- Superiors were aware of how she was handling her expense account, as they themselves operated their expense accounts in the same way.
- The amount of R 143 500 documented as an unauthorised payment to her was “misunderstood” by the chairman.
- She was found “not guilty” on the charge of authorising the payment for printing cartridges to a family business.
The tribunal stated that Heard was “upset about Smit’s appointment as the chief executive as she felt that she should have been given the job because her “safe pair of hands” would keep things running.
Heard said that this was incorrect. It had been accepted that Smit would need her as she was a safe pair of hands.
She admitted she was upset about the appointment as she was excluded from applying.
“The board put in a condition that the applicant had to be a professional rugby player, deliberately to exclude me.”
This, she said, was admitted in the hearing.
Other issues she said would be raised at the CCMA hearing.
Shoooie, seems like the only thing she didn’t manage to buy was the Super Rugby trophy.
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Is that all you can say about this situation?
A few weeks ago you were waiting for the facts to emerge before you’ll comment on it. Now you have it and that is all that you can come up with?
Well, at least it has nothing to do with BEE or AA. Now that would have elicit a much more scathing response from you, wouldn’t it?
It’s not so much about the fraud/corruption for you, is it? It is about WHO commits it.
2 @ Nama:
Stadig Namascara… ek hou nie van die ondertoon in jou Comment # 2 aan Brumbiesboy nie.
Jy van alle mense behoort te weet hoekom dit ononhoudbaar is en ek verwag die soort van comment nie van jou nie… jy trap hiermee ‘n fyn lyn… met ‘n kommentaar soos die.
… jy weet goed wat ek bedoel, en jy weet ook ek bedoel dit goed om te maan teen dit wat nie hier op R-T kan gebeur nie…
Ons soek ‘n homegene samelewing hier, waar ons mekaar verdra, warts & all.
Seblief mater, ek vra mooi.
@ grootblousmile:
Ek hoor jou duidelik.
Ek vra maar net die vraag aan BB omdat hy die ander aand baie te se gehad het oor die Davids storie in die Boland. Die dag voor Davids se storie gebreek het, was hier ook ‘n artikel oor die ondersoek by die Sharks…waarop daar geen kommentaar gelewer was nie. Op my vraag waarom die Boland storie soveel kommentaar lok en die Sharks storie niks, was BB se kommentaar dat daar bewyse en goed is oor Davids se bedrog, maar nog niks oor die Sharks geval nie. Hy sou kommentaar lewer daaroor wanneer hy bewyse sien.
Wel, hier is die bewyse nou en hy het nog steeds niks te se nie behalwe om ‘n flou grap daaroor te probeer maak. Ek wys hom maar net daarop.
Ek het geen probleem om in te pas en aan te pas by die site se filosofie nie, maar dinge sny twee kante toe. As Davids bedrog gepleeg het by Boland, dan is dit nie oor BEE of AA, soos BB dit wou he nie. Dit is omdat hy oneerlik was. Net soos wat die vroumens, en die ander wat bedrog gepleeg het (volgens haar), daar by die Sharks skelm was.
Laat ons die goed ewehandig aanspreek en nie van die een iets erger probeer maak as die ander nie.
NZ 68/3 in 15th over
Nama wrote:
Hoor, hoor
Now THAT’s NOT a spurious argument 😀
68/4 (McCallum gone!)
68/5
Morkel now on a hat trick ball
@ Angostura:
NZ in real trouble.
4 @ Nama:
Ek het duidelik die diepere impak van die kommentare op die Davids thread gemis… ek skim partykeer ook maar net oppervlakkig oor goed as gevolg van tydsgebrek maar ek dink jy kan altemit verskoon dat ek darem nie ALTYD, ORAL kan wees en sien nie.. Junie, Julie, Augustus en September was rowwe maande vir my.
Maar ek probeer damn hard om absoluut ewewigtig te wees, jong!
‘n Ou soos Hondo hou ek fyn dop… juis oor ondertone wat nie by en met my akkodeer nie.
Paar jaar terug het ek ‘n ou met die naam Stan afgeskop hier, want hy wou dinge vertroebel… paar maande terug het ek vir Fern na moer gestuur om dieselfde redes. Polisieman speel is nie lekker nie… ek haat dit om ‘n blerrie spietkop te wees vir die blog… maar ek moet maar, ten einde dit te beskerm wat ons gebou en vermag het hier!
Soos jy sê, oneerlik is oneerlik, steel is steel… skeef is skeef.
Al wat ek vra van jou, as ou wat ek leer ken het as ‘n man wat waarde toevoeg tos R-T, is om te help om van die website die beste, mees ewewigtigste site te maak… waar ons almal ‘n voorbeeld is vir onse land en die nasies daarin.
Ons kan hier maar net tussen onsself regmaak wat verkeerd is en skeef is in ons land.. nie die land se probleme oplos nie… van welke perspektief af ookal gesien.
Ons skuld mekaar groot in die land en ons nageslagte moet ‘n reggemaakte land kry wat weer boontoe beur, nie waar nie?
As jy sien of voel dinge word skeef kwytgeraak, dan moet jy my seblief mail man… daai kan ek nie mis nie!
McLaren goin’ for plenty
at the Bay of Plenty
Geen probleem GBS.
Ek stem saam met jou sentimente.
@ Nama:
I see we have AB to bat at 5. He should bat at 4 imo.
Good that NZ is making a game of it. At one stage I thought we would bowl them out for 120 or so.
@ Nama:
That was meant for Ango.
Duminy to the rescue.
Watch Mc Laren taking two quick wickets if/when he comes back to bowl.
Now Tahir strikes.
NZ are 7 down for 134
Mc Laren in the wickets.
There’s no.2 for Ryan
@ Nama:
jou ou naguil.
South Africa require another 35 runs with 6 wickets and 35 balls remaining
AB and JP in complete control.
@ Nama:
I am actually not too worried about AB at 5. I think the target is to grt him coming in between over 20-30
De Villiers & Duminy take the Proteas to victory at a canter
PS: Skysports need to invest in a proper sound engineer – the excessive echo on their audio is terrible
Macro.
JP looking good for someone who “can’t bat, can’t bowl”
😆
Not a massive fan of that SA batting lineup to be honest.
ABD has to come in at 4 with JP at 5 with Rossouw only considered as reserve backup should one of the top 4 get injured.
Miller has to play and come in at 6 for batting at the death.
Was he injured today or are they trying different combos?
@ Jeraldjay:
ha ha he is looking great. hope he can keep it up
I am not overly worried about AB batting at 5, he is at his strongest when he can guide us through the middle overs and bat the last few overs. JP also has been good at 6 in recent times, so i would not want to change that too much given our recent success?
@ Nama:
Nama, DO NOT attempt to put words in my mouth.
THEFT IS THEFT, no matter who commits it, the same applies to corruption…and murder (sorry, “culpable homicide, Oscar)
You know nothing about me so best you zip it & climb back into your papsak (& take your racist quota system with you).
Why not open with AB, he’s best batsman in the world. If he can bat through from over 15 surely he can bat through from over 1. Don’t understand need to protect him in early overs. If ball is new and moving around taking early wickets it places him under pressure if he comes in at four or five early in the game and he has to rebuild. We have plenty of big hitters for further down, Q de Kok, Miller can come in at 5/6 and smash if we behind run rate. Limited overs cricket is bit of lottery in any case.
Ab de villiers averages 73 at no5 with 4 100’s and 6 50’s @ Best:
It is also another matter if changing something that works, QdQ recently broke a world record opening with Amla. Why would anyone mess with that?
Also opening with AB youd want him to bat the whole innings to be his destructive BEST at the end of an innings, we will lose more than we gain with him going up front.
The problem is not opening it is the No.4 position that has no takers at the moment.
ok he equaled the world record for consecutive 100’s
@ MacroBlouBul:
The reason he’s average is high is he is often not out. If he can score a hundred in 20 overs what stops him scoring 150 in 30. Quinton has done well but has failed equally often. It’s not always good to change something that works but why not experiment to see if there can be an improvement. Scores in 50 over matches are increasing and especially in World CUp where you have one chance in knock-out rounds a single player can risk all and almost take game away. Batting second, needing 400, which will happen again, you need consistent high scoring player in as early as possible. Gibbs much the same as AB in one days. If he was our number four/five we would’ve been beaten at Wanderer’s
25 @ BrumbiesBoy:
Now now Pony… same applies to you as applied to Nama in the night… which I duly addressed.
No need for undertones, no need for discord!
I do not expect it from you and know you to be a gentle oke and a gentleman!
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