Paris (AFP)

Philippe Peyramaure, heard as a witness in the context of the Altrad affair, wrote to the National Financial Prosecutor's Office to report comments made by Bernard Laporte after his police custody, which he considers to be threats, we learned. Thursday from a source close to the case.

Peyramaure, a 78-year-old honorary lawyer, is a former member of the Appeal Commission of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) from which he resigned after the revelation of the case in August 2017 by the JDD.

Contacted by AFP, Peyramaure did not wish to make any comment, without however denying this information from lequipe.fr.

The comments concerned concern those made by the president of the FFR, candidate for his own succession on October 3, in an interview with the newspaper Midi Libre on September 25.

"What is certain is that after October 3, those who have a lot to do with it (in this affair) will be held to account. This is the only thing I have to say," boss of the FFR.

Relaunched on the subject, Laporte added: "These are not threats, but those who are at the origin of all this will be held accountable when the time comes. Period".

Laporte was taken into police custody on September 22, suspected of having used his influence to reduce sanctions against the Montpellier club at the end of June 2017. Four other people had been placed in police custody, including the club president Mohed Altrad.

- Different version -

Former coach of the Blues (2000-2007), then Secretary of State in charge of Sports for Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2009), Laporte has always defended himself from any intervention in favor of Montpellier, even if he admitted to having telephoned the president of the FFR appeal commission, Jean-Daniel Simonet.

Inspectors general of the Ministry of Sports established in a report sent to justice that the decisions of the commission were "modified", between June 29 and 30, 2017, a schedule that corresponds to this phone call.

Simonet, he assured these inspectors that his commission was only at the stage of a "hypothesis" of decision on the 29th, according to him too severe.

A different version from that presented by Peyramaure during a defamation lawsuit lost by the boss of the FFR against L'Equipe, on May 9, 2019.

According to him, Simonet had called him on the morning of June 30 to tell him about the phone call from a "not happy" Bernard Laporte, who "had told him, rather brutally, that Altrad was an important sponsor. of the France team (first jersey sponsor), an important support for the candidacy "victorious of France to the organization of the World-2023" and that it was necessary to remove these sanctions ".

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