Saracens owner Nigel Wray has gone into business with England captain Owen Farrell and three other senior members of the squad, raising questions over whether they have broken salary cap regulations.
Premiership Rugby has said it will ‘look closely’ at material provided by Sportsmail to determine whether the all-conquering club are operating within the rules of its £7million salary cap.
A four-month investigation by Sportsmail has revealed that multi-millionaire property entrepreneur Wray owns businesses with England stars Farrell, Billy and Mako Vunipola and Richard Wigglesworth, and has also co-owned houses with former Saracens players.
Saracens owner Nigel Wray has business relations with Owen Farrell and three other players
Our investigation prompts questions about how benefits that players receive from these arrangements are accounted for in rules which regulate their salaries, which are set by Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL). Sportsmail understands that rival club owners are ready to call for a full investigation into Saracens by PRL.
Under the ownership of Wray —who is worth £315m — Saracens have become one of the dominant forces in European rugby, winning the Premiership three times in the last four seasons and being crowned double European champions.
The club, who have previously been investigated in relation to the salary cap, already boast eight members of England’s Six Nations squad and are about to acquire a ninth when Elliot Daly joins from Wasps.
Like all the clubs in the Premiership, they have to operate within strict salary cap regulations that limit the money they can spend on all their players to £7m per season — plus two ‘marquee players’ whose salaries are not included.
Sportsmail has found that Wray, who has been involved at Saracens since 1995 and reclaimed full control of the club last year, has struck up business arrangements with four of his top players. Documents at Companies House reveal that on the same day in early 2017, two separate investment property companies were set up by a business associate of Wray’s and given the names ShahDan Limited and DanCallie Ltd.
In both cases, this associate, Daniel van den Heever, was sole director and Wray sole shareholder at the point of incorporation.
Within three months, the names, directors and shareholders of the companies had changed.
Farrell and Richard Wigglesworth have gone into business with the Saracens owner
The salary cap stands at £7million, which was increased from £6.5m in the 2016-17 season.
Built into the cap is the ability for clubs to nominate two ‘excluded players’, whose salaries are not included, and claim £400,000 in injury credits.
The identity of the excluded players is confidential.
Within the £7m there is £600,000 of ‘Homegrown senior player credits’ (defined as relating to a senior player who was at the club before his 18th birthday and has been there for at least two complete salary cap years prior to the current salary cap year), at a rate of £50,000 maximum per individual player.
Clubs receive credits for players unavailable while on international duty of up to £80,000 per player.
ShahDan Limited became VunProp Ltd on March 31, 2017, with the two Vunipola brothers becoming joint directors and 33.3 per cent shareholders by the end of April.
Accounts filed with Companies House show the company owns £1.5million worth of property, including a £592,500 property near Bermondsey, South London, bought in March 2017.
There is a £1m bank loan and another loan of £522,560 listed.
Meanwhile, DanCallie Ltd became Wiggy9 Investments, with Wigglesworth — who has 33 England caps — owning 65 per cent of the shares and Wray 35 per cent.
Accounts show the company has £875,000 of investment property and at the end of the year £189,397 was available to shareholders.
England captain Farrell is the most recent player known to have gone into business with Wray.
Less than a month after Farrell signed a contract extension with Saracens in 2017, the financial management firm Faz Investments Ltd was set up by former Saracens director Kamal Shah, with Farrell and Wray as the only shareholders. No accounts have yet been filed.
Premiership Rugby declined to comment when asked to confirm whether they were notified of these arrangements by Saracens, saying that declarations by each club are confidential.
An investigation of Saracens players’ living arrangements found more links between Wray and his players. Documents show that he still co-owns the £690,000 property in Harpenden where Schalk Brits is registered as having lived since 2011. Brits, 37, retired from rugby last year but now plays for South African side Bulls.
Wray bought the house in July 2011 with Brits, Brits’s wife Colinda and Bermuda-based multi-millionaire insurer Dominic Silvester, who is a director of Saracens.
Wray also owned the £587,500 house in St Albans in which
