Hugh Morgan is being sued by Armagh county board
Armagh GAA team was sponsored by Morgan Fuels
Fuel magnate Hugh Morgan is facing legal action over £90,000 unpaid GAA sponsorship fees.
And he could also be entwined in a probe into more than £9,000 in missing ticket money.
The millionaire businessman, a long time sponsor of Gaelic football in Co Armagh, is the central figure in a financial mess is set to rock Gaelic football.
The Sunday World has information that an independent audit has uncovered a list of apparent financial irregularites that will shake the sport to its foundations, and which drove the Armagh County Board to the brink of bankruptcy.
Last night a spokesman for the Armagh County Board confirmed to the Sunday World: “papers have been served on our former sponsor and I can confirm that an independent (financial) audit has been carried out.”
Sources say it is impossible to put a figure on the scandal but that it runs to “many thousands of pounds.”
The audit report is firmly under lock and key at the association’s headquarters at Croke Park and the county has been given strict instructions not to discuss its findings with anyone.
But details are set to emerge as the county presses ahead with legal action against its former main sponsor Hugh Morgan who’s company name Morgan Fuels has been synonymous with the 2002 All Ireland champions.
Newry man Morgan has a long association with GAA, in particular through his sponsorship of Armagh, but it is a relationship that turned sour when it was alleged that he had failed to meet a series of financial obligations.
“When Morgan came on board as a sponsor, he was phenomenal, his level of enthusiasm was fantastic as he pumped a fortune into Armagh GAA,” said our source.
Morgan, who has a conviction from 1998 for fuel smuggling and tax evasion, pulled the plug on his sponsorship deal 18 months ago after the county approached him for £90,000 he is alleged to owe in unpaid sponsorship payments.
The county’s financial shortcomings only came to light as part of a wider review of the way the game was being run in Armagh. Well placed sources have told us that expenditure was out of control.
The source claims there was an absence of some records of invoices or receipts and it was even discovered there were almost 20 direct debits going out of the county account which nobody knew anything about.
It emerged mobile phone accounts had been opened without authorisation and were being funded by the county and there were direct debits to pay for certain unauthorised domestic bills!
Volunteer workers were stunned when they were refused annual expenses running to thousands which they claimed they received every year. Current Board officials knew nothing about this situation it and there was no formal record of the payments.
The most damning scandal emerged when the County Board approached oil company Topaz seeking payment for match tickets that had been provided for their corporate clients.
“The arrangement was set up through Morgan. Topaz would come to us looking for tickets for certain games which we agreed to sell them, it was a win win situation for the county as Topaz were happy to pay more than cover price to secure tickets for clients, so it enabled us to make some extra money.”
But when finance committee members tried to track the payments down they could find no records whatsoever.
“It looked for the all world that Topaz had not paid.”
When contacted, Topaz was adamant they had met all their financial obligations and even sent the County Board a copy of an invoice they had received on Armagh headed paper for more than €9,500, and evidence that it had been paid.
“There is no trace of that money at the County Board,” said our source.
“Nobody but the Board has the right to use headed notepaper,. how did any one individual get their hands on it and where did that money go?”
The Sunday World understands Morgan is facing a demand for £90,000 in sponsorship payments and payment for tickets provided to Topaz.
When contacted yesterday on his mobile phone Morgan confirmed who he was, and when challenged on the allegations laid against him he said: “You will have to speak to my brother about that. He handles all that.”
We repeated the question: “You’ll have to speak to my brother , and I can’t give you his number.”
He then denied we were talking to Hugh Morgan and said that his name was Harry.
“I only work here, I’m just here feeding the cattle,” he said. When we asked to speak to Hugh he said he wasn’t there and that he wouldn’t be back until Monday.