The national financial prosecutor’s office had accused the barons of French rugby of having sealed a “corruptive pact” by signing an image contract for 180,000 euros.
Mo12345lemonde with AFP
Less than a year from the World Cup in France, the decision was feverishly watched by the tricolor oval. The president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), Bernard Laporte, and Mohed Altrad, owner of the Montpellier club and sponsor jersey of the Blues, were sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court, Tuesday, December 13, for corruption.
In detail, Mr. Laporte was found guilty of illegal takeover of interest on the signing in the name of the FFR of the contract with Altrad Investment Authority (AIA), the Holding of the Altrad group. He was also found guilty of the offense of influence traffic, of passive corruption for the four interventions, an offense of concealment of abuse of corporate goods. For these facts, he was sentenced to two years suspended prison sentence and 75,000 euros fine. In accordance with the requisitions of the prosecution, Mr. Laporte is also sentenced to two years of prohibition to exercise a function related to rugby.
“Each of his interventions [was] guided by a bias towards Mohed Altrad,” said the court when reading the decision.
m. Altrad, for his part, was found guilty of active corruption, influence traffic and abuse of social goods. He was sentenced to 18 months suspended prison sentence and 55,000 euros fine.
Three other defendants were also tried in this drawer file, opened in 2017. The vice-president of the FFR, Serge Simon, who was suspected of illegal taking of interests, was released.
“corruption pact”
Pursued for six offenses, Bernard Laporte plays, beyond his judicial situation, his image and that of the FFR, which he has presided since the end of 2016 and which is today entirely turned towards the next World Cup ( September 8-October 28, 2023). At the helm, the former French XV coach had to explain a series of arbitrations rendered in 2017 and 2018 in favor of his friend Mohed Altrad, with whom he had signed a confidential image contract remunerated 180,000 euros , without clearly identified consideration.
Linked by what the accusation considers as a “corruption pact”, Mr. Laporte would have favored the businessman, in particular by granting the Altrad group the very first jersey sponsorship in the history of the Blues, Term of a winding process that had crumpled the historic partners of the tricolor XV. The boss of French rugby would also have intervened in 2017 on several occasions in support of the interests of the Montpellier club, in particular to alleviate disciplinary sanctions which aimed at him. This component is worth to the vice-president of the FFR, Serge Simon, to have appeared for illegal taking of interests.
In front of the court, Mr. Laporte had “rejected the accusations” in block, but sometimes struggled to justify his personal contract with Mr. Altrad, whose discovery by the press in the summer of 2017 had led the National Prosecutor’s Office Financial (PNF) to open an investigation. “In my head, there are no conflicts of interest,” said the ex-secretary of state to the sports of Nicolas Sarkozy. The defense had denounced an educated file, according to her, charged by the PNF and based on the “fantasy” of a corruptive pact.
new PNF survey
The criminal court also condamaneous Mr. ATCHER, recently dismissed from the head of the organizational committee of the 2023 World Cup for managerial practices deemed “alarming”, at 5000 euros fine for facts of hidden work.
At the head of his company SCORE XV, Mr. ATCHER had been recruited in early 2017 by Mr. LAPORTE to tie the candidacy of France at the 2023 World Cup, then in a standstill. This former rugby player had contributed to the victory of the French file but also, according to the PNF, unduly perceived of the sums of the federation with the direct consent of Bernard Laporte, being guilty of a concealment of breach of trust. At the end of his investigation, the damage for the FFR had been estimated at around 80,000 euros, an amount which had fluctuated according to the hearing to the chagrin of the defense of Mr. Atcher, who had denounced a “relentlessness judicial and media “.
At the beginning of November, the organizing committee of the 2023 World Cup had also been searched within the framework of a new PNF investigation for favoritism, influence traffic and corruption, linked to possible irregularities on the ticket office of the ticket office next World Cup.