Paris (AFP)

No exceedance of the payroll ceiling: the FFR Appeal Committee, called into question in 2017 in the Altrad-Laporte case, again cleared Montpellier, the club of the businessman sponsor of the XV de France, for the second year in a row.

. Has the MHR been completely laundered?

No. The appeal commission of the FFR has inflicted on the club Herault, property of Mohed Altrad, the biggest fortune of Occitania with 3.3 billion euros according to Challenges, a fine of 120,000 euros for "failure to meet the obligations of transparency "(€ 100,000) with a revocation of suspension (€ 20,000). But on the other hand, it completely cleared the MHR of the overshoot of the wage bill for which the specialized section of the Disciplinary Committee of the League had, in October, inflicted a much heavier penalty (€ 400,000).

According to this section "Salary Cap", composed of five members handpicked (Council of State, Court of Cassation, Court of Auditors ...) and which is based on the report of an independent "Salary Cap Manager", the MHR had exceeded in the 2017-2018 season by more than 428,000 euros the ceiling of the wage bill, set at 11.3 million euros for all clubs in the Top 14. A regulatory tool which the NRL has made its a battle horse to guarantee the "fairness and uncertainty" of the championship and the "economic balance of the clubs".

. What are the precedents?

The decision of the Appeal Commission of the FFR is therefore a snub for the NRL, which "is surprised and deplores the questioning of this decision of first instance". But this is not the first: it is the third time in as many years that the businessman's club, at the head of the eponymous group specializing in construction equipment, gets more favorable decisions from of the federal authority.

In 2018, Montpellier, already singled out for exceeding the famous salary cap - between 350,000 and 400,000 euros - was first cleared by the DNACG (National Directorate of Assistance and Management Control), the financial gendarme of the NRL. The latter then appealed to the FFR Appeal Board, which upheld the decision of the DNACG.

In 2017, the MHR had been pinned by the League (fine of 70,000 euros and ground suspension) for the hostile banners deployed during the match against Racing 92. The FFR Appeal Board had reduced this penalty and lifted the suspension ground.

JDD revelations that Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR, had intervened with the president of the Commission, Jean-Daniel Simonet, so that it shows leniency towards Montpellier had triggered "the business Laporte-Altrad".

. How is this problem?

The suspicions of conflict of interests between Laporte and Altrad go back to that time, when Laporte had recognized the existence of a private contract linking him to the Montpellier, to which he had given up in front of the controversy. But since then, Altrad has become the first jersey sponsor of the XV of France (for 5 years and 35 million euros) and official partner of the FFR. And a key figure, by his financial support, in the French candidacy victorious to the organization of the World Cup 2023.

In the context of the 2017 case, searches were carried out at Altrad's home and the FFR headquarters in Marcoussis. The survey, conducted by the National Finance Prosecutor's Office (NFP), is still ongoing. Laporte has not, at this stage, been summoned.

© 2019 AFP