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Saracens are “considering their position” over an alleged undeclared conflict of interest at the centre of the disciplinary process into the 2019 salary cap scandal. The club were fined an unprecedented £5.36m for salary cap breaches over the previous three seasons and were relegated to the Championship, but the punishment has come under fresh scrutiny with these new allegations.
Saracens point to an allegation made about the accounting firm Saffery Champness and claims that the level of fine handed down was “largely based upon advice provided to PRL”.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Saffery Champness was auditor for Sale Sharks at the same time that it gave “impartial expert advice” about Saracens. Saffrey Champness are said to have advised Premier Rugby Ltd on Maro Itoje’s image rights as well as Chris Ashton’s Saracens contracts and was working with Sale when the club signed the winger.
Sale are said to have received more than £350,000 as the club’s share of the fines paid by Saracens. There is no suggestion of deliberate wrongdoing in the advice provided by Saffery Champness, but the fact that one of its clients benefited from the punishment handed down to Saracens calls the disciplinary process into question.
Saracens said: “The allegation has been made that Saffery Champness had a conflict of interest in this matter due to providing ‘independent’ expert advice to PRL on seven out of the nine charges, at the same time as being a service provider to other parties, who benefited financially from the outcome of the panel’s determinations and that the conflicts in relation to the other parties were disclosed neither to the panel nor Saracens. The club will consider its position once those affected by this allegation have had an opportunity to respond.”
