Salford Red Devils have failed in their appeal to overturn a six point deduction from their Super League total and £5000 fine.
Marwan Koukash was targeted by the RFL in March.
The sport’s governing body accused the Salford chairman of breaking the rules on paying out salaries of more than £1.825 million over the past two years.
Mr Koukash was adamant that neither he nor the club had done anything wrong.
Read: Koukash vows to fight on after Salford docked SIX points
But today it’s been revealed that Koukash’s appeal against the decision has been turned down.
Salford Red Devils were off to a flying start to the season when they were docked six points.
They now sit ninth in the Super League table, five points beind Castleford Tiger, whom they would have leapfrogged should the decision have gone the other way.
An independent RFL tribunal at the authority’s headquarters in Leeds chaired by His Honour Judge Peter Charlesworth found Salford had broken the rules.
This was backed up by Wednesday afternoon’s hearing at independent body Sports Resolutions.
The tribunal found Salford guilty for the following:
“- Seeking to avoid declaring payments made to Tony Puletua by entering into a contract with the player via another company associated with the club
“- Non declaration of benefits to Lami Tasi and Theo Fages.”
An RFL spokesperson said: “The decision today from Sports Resolutions clearly shows that the RFL disciplinary process is robust and fair.”
Koukash told the BBC: “It’s very disappointing.
“At the end of the day, although we demonstrated that we haven’t broken the salary cap and in many ways the RFL has accepted that, the centre point is that I broke the operational rules, which is not declaring three payments back in 2013, to which I hold my hand up.”
Koukash was set for ‘all out war’ and to take his case ‘to the highest court in the land’ after he was initially charged in March.
However, this verdict will prove to be a difficult one to overturn without flipping the sport of rugby league on its head.
Meanwhile, the RFL is happy to draw a line on the issue and move on: “It is of utmost importance that clubs adhere to the salary cap and that if they are found to have broken it they are held to account,” they said in an official statement.
“As we have previously stated and agreed we see this decision as final and binding and hope all parties involved can now focus on the rest of the season.”
