The verdict on the suspicions of corruption that are rocking French rugby will be known on Tuesday. The Paris Criminal Court will indeed render its judgment against the president of the federation Bernard Laporte and Mohed Altrad, club boss of the Top 14 and jersey sponsor of the Blues.
Expected around 1:30 p.m., the decision is watched with feverishness by Ovalie less than a year from the World Cup in France, whose organizational conditions are at the heart of a separate investigation opened in October in particular for corruption.
Against the two leaders, who dispute the facts, the prosecution requested three years’ imprisonment, including one firm, and called for a two-year ban on Bernard Laporte from exercising a function in rugby and on Mohed Altrad, CEO of the eponymous construction giant, to manage a company. “They have damaged the probity surrounding French rugby”, had justified the public prosecutor during the trial in September. Three other defendants, including the fallen boss of the organization of the Mondial-2023 Claude Atcher, will also be fixed on their fate in this file with drawers opened in 2017.
The image of the FFR at stake
Prosecuted for a total of six offences, Bernard Laporte plays, beyond his legal situation, his image and that of the French Federation (FFR) which he has chaired since the end of 2016 and which is today entirely focused on the next World Cup ( September 8-October 28, 2023). At the helm, the former coach of the French XV had to explain himself on a series of arbitrations rendered in 2017-2018 in favor of his friend Mohed Altrad, with whom he had signed a confidential image contract paid 180,000 euros, without clearly identified compensation.
Bound by what the prosecution considers to be a “corruption pact”, Bernard Laporte would have favored the businessman, in particular by granting the Altrad group the very first jersey sponsorship in the history of the Blues at the end of a process winding which had offended the historic partners of the XV tricolor. The boss of French rugby would also have intervened in 2017 on several occasions in support of the interests of the Montpellier club, owned by Mohed Altrad, in particular to alleviate disciplinary sanctions against him.