Montpellier (AFP)

Once again in the sights of the Rugby League for exceeding the salary cap, the Montpellier club (Top 14) has this time received a record fine of 470,000 euros Monday, a year after spending between drops.

The penalty fell: the MHR of the Franco-Syrian entrepreneur Mohed Altrad has exceeded by more than "428,000 euros" the ceiling of the wage bill set at 11.3 million euros per season, according to the disciplinary committee of the National Rugby League (NRL).

A decision that the club will appeal before the commission of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), told AFP the club's lawyer, Antoine Vey.

Targeted wages, exceeding the authorized limit, include those of the two South African brothers Bismarck and Jannie Du Plessis for the 2017-2018 season.

But the MHR ensures that the emoluments of the brothers Du Plessis are in the nails and denounces the way the NRL calculates the theoretical wages of the market to seek to demonstrate that the players have benefited from benefits.

"I am disappointed," said Monday to AFP the president of the MHR Mohed Altrad, ranked among the 50 largest French fortunes according to specialized sites. "We thought we were in front of us very receptive people, finally it was not so, but we answered all their questions ..."

- New instance -

Already in the spotlight of the NRL for exceeding the ceiling estimated between 350,000 and 400,000 euros in the 2016-2017 season, the club had been cleared by the National Directorate of Assistance and Management Control (DNACG). A decision confirmed by the appeal board of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) a year ago.

This time, the Héraultais, auditioned on September 6, 2019, were sanctioned by the section "Salary Cap" of the Disciplinary Committee of the League.

According to a relative of the file at the NRL, this body, created in February "to reinforce the competences", considered that the MHR had seen flaws in the device of control and that the club should not have cut the sanctions the last year.

Altrad denounces the process of the League to determine the supposed remuneration of players and protests against the "Veltys methodology", the name of the data specialist company with which works the NRL, "whose relevance is estimated at 60 or 70 % ".

- "A Stalinist system" -

"The word is a little strong but it is a Stalinist system, there is more freedom of contract, it is the League that sets the price of players," ton Me Vey, more vehement.

"The NRL system is no longer determined by a contract but by the League, free to sanction the club arbitrarily," says the club's lawyer who asks that the members of the section "Salary Cap" are chosen " by ministerial decree, not chosen only by the League ", which favors" amateurism and cronyism ".

Now taking the place of the DNACG to deal with reports of possible breaches of the salary ceiling, this body is composed in particular of a State Councilor, a Referendum Advisor to the Court of Auditors and a Chamber President. at the Court of Cassation.

And it has already imposed fines of 50,000 euros suspended with Racing 92 and 40,000 euros suspended at RC Toulon this summer for "failure to communicate parts". Irregularities challenged by the MHR, pinned too on this point.

According to Mr. Vey, "Altrad is not in the mold of the NRL, it has injected money, upset the balance of smaller and less organized clubs."

"Altrad is targeted" and "other clubs are also," said MHR's lawyer.

© 2019 AFP