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The 'smoking gun' email that brought Eels officials down

A 'smoking gun' email sent by then Eels chief financial officer Ed Farish to top officials at the club last July and suggesting knowledge of dodgy deals at the club has been revealed by Fairfax Media.

The email warns chairman Steve Sharp, chief executive John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson of "exposures" around third-party deals for Anthony Watmough.

Farish also advises the officials to self-report to the NRL and reveals the CFO's suspicions over inflated invoices with club suppliers.

The email in question reportedly played a huge role in the NRL's heavy sanctions against the Parramatta club.

"Gents, on Monday the 20th of July [NRL salary cap auditor] Jamie L'Oste Brown is due to conduct a mid-year salary cap review," Farish wrote in the email obtained by Fairfax media with the subject line 'TPA' (third party agreements).

"We've identified the following exposures around potential deals on TPAs. I'm anxious to ensure that everyone is on the same page in dealing with these. If a TPA is not registered and discovered, Jamie can refuse to make it cap exempt."

"TPAs are exempt from the cap under certain conditions. The main condition is that the company is not an associated entity. We have two TPAs registered for Anthony Watmough being ScoreCube $75,000 and PJ Promotions $50,000. ScoreCube is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Black Citrus who are a supplier of PNRL. Stephen Moss is the only director and the ScoreCube website is heavily branded Black Citrus.

"PJ Promotions are associated with [club consultant] Tracy. This condition is not as obvious as the Black Citrus connection but the NRL may query why a Newcastle-based promotion company want to spend $50,000-a-year for four years on Watmough. Tracy was promised reciprocal funding by Scott but has executed a TPA for four years with no matching funding.

"In summary, my major concerns are: ScoreCube TPA is easily connected to the club and even though it's approved at the moment the rules give the NRL ample room to reverse the decision. As a minimum I feel that we should self-report ScoreCube and flag that we have investigations ongoing."

Lawyers for Sharp, Boulous, Anderson and directors Tom Issa and Peter Serrao are in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.