Former Bradford Bulls owner Omar Khan is being pursued by the Rugby Football League (RFL) for the repayment of nearly a million pounds in Sky TV royalties.
Blake Solly, the RFL’s director of standards and licensing, told the Telegraph and Argus: “When Omar Khan decided to take on the club and sought to have the club playing Super League for the 2013/14 season, he and the company guaranteed any distribution money that they would receive in that time. Whatever Super League (Europe) Ltd paid across, if there was an insolvency in the 2013/14 season he would pay it back.
“£905,000 was received by the club before it was sold to Marc Green. They (OK Bulls Ltd) are entitled to contest the claim, but we have to let the administrator know what we think is owed to us.”
Solly said the money was received by the club between August 2012 and February 28, 2014.
“The figure is the figure,” he added. “And as far as we are concerned we expect Omar Khan to honour that.”
A spokesman for Khan said: “The RFL (Super League Europe) figure has been agreed by the administrator to be overstated by at least £205,000.”
In a statement, Khan himself said: “A claim from the RFL for £905,000 had been lodged the day before the meeting, although there is no mention of this in the administrator’s report or statement of affairs.
“I fail to understand why this claim was never commented on by the administrator who was obviously aware of it before his report went out. In an e-mail from the RFL which was copied to the administrator, they said the claim was of the order of £622,072.77, an amount which I do not accept. I therefore do no understand why it was not included in the administrator’s report or his statement of affairs. Consequently a formal objection was also lodged in respect of the claim for £905,000.
“I am further advised that I have 21 days to object to the way the meeting was conducted and I am taking legal advice next week regarding making an application to court.”
