Allegations that Western Province Rugby (WPR) faked bankruptcy for ulterior motives have emerged in an urgent application at the Western Cape High Court which one of its partners lodged last week, says a Weekend Argus report. WPR was provisionally wound up a week ago amid claims that it suffered an operating loss of more than R12m in the 2015 financial year, that its overdraft facility with its bank was as high as R19m and that it was left without funds to cover operating expenses.

However, its advertising partner, Aerios, claimed in court papers that the winding up was nothing more than a ploy by WPR to extricate itself from what it considered to be a bad bargain with Aerios, which had concluded an advertising rights agreement with WPR in 2011.

Aerios CEO Constantinos Constantinou stated in an affidavit that WPR had conducted itself in a ‘disgraceful’ manner since then, allegedly selling advertising rights without its consent and negotiating a sponsorship contract behind its back. Constantinou noted WPR had made several payments to it this year, including R2m, just days before the provisional liquidation. ‘A company able to make those sorts of payments over such a short period hardly strikes one as a company suffering a cash flow problem,’ he said.

The parties reached an agreement, which has been made an order of court. Aerios has been given leave to intervene as a party in the liquidation proceedings, which return to court on 12 December.

Full Weekend Argus report