IT IS the salary cap scandal that continues to haunt Carlton.

And it has been revealed by the Herald Sun that more than $750,000 was stuffed in brown paper bags over a five-year period at the back end of the 1990s and early 2000s.

On the eve of the 2002 National Draft, Carlton was fined almost $1 million and stripped of all first and second round draft picks across the next two years.

Four household names were publicly linked to the under-the-table payments, including full back of the century and current list manager, Stephen Silvagni, Carlton’s games record holder, Craig Bradley, as well as Fraser Brown and Stephen O’Reilly.

Finals Week 1

Former AFL player agent David Allison managed Blues champion Anthony Koutoufides, Silvagni and Bradley during that period, plus a host of other big names.

Allison revealed bags of cash were dropped off for his clients at his Parkville office across the road from Princes Park, which has since led to the darkest patch in the Blues history.

LIVE Stream every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >

Anthony Koutoufides during the 1999 preliminary final win over Essendon. Source: News Limited

16 years on from that scandal, Allison estimated that he received ‘three-quarters of a million bucks’ in under-the-table payments.

“Across a five-year period — there would be no doubt in my mind it would be three quarters of a million bucks,” Allison told the Herald Sun.

“It was always cash … and it wasn’t only me that was paid that type of money.

“In those days there was a lot of cash money made available — and I know for a fact that it still goes on today — but not to the degree that it did back in those days.

“I not only received cash for my players but also to hand on to some other players.”

With Koutoufides one of the biggest superstars during that era, and one of the highest paid players along with North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey, collecting a large chunk of Carlton’s salary cap at that time, Allison believes his contract led to the salary cap squeeze.

“There was a lot of innuendo at the time that Kouta was earning this, he was earning that,” Allison said.

“And if Kouta was getting paid $1 million a season that left f--- all to be paid to so many players, and that’s what I think instigated the whole investigation.”

Get the Foxtel Sports Pack — call 1300 300 707 or visit foxtel.com.au to start streaming immediately on the Foxtel app while you wait for your connection.