Before the criminal court, the former coach of the XV tricolor (2000-2007) will try to counter the accusation which makes him the cornerstone of a system of favoritism involving the multi-billionaire businessman and president of Montpellier Hérault Rugby (MHR), Mohed Altrad, and Claude Atcher, who was recently suspended from his position as general manager of the 2023 World Cup.

The vice-president of the Federation Serge Simon is also among the five defendants who will be tried until September 22.

"The grievances made against Bernard Laporte are perfectly artificial, in particular because the acts performed were all in the interest of the federation", assures AFP his lawyer, Me Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi.

The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) has another analysis.

According to his investigation, Nicolas Sarkozy's former Secretary of State for Sports was notably guilty of "illegal taking of interest", "passive corruption" and "passive influence peddling" for the main benefit of Mohed Altrad, boss of the eponymous construction giant.

Their friendship and business ties form the heart of the case.

In February 2017, the two men signed a one-year contract under the terms of which Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR since December 2016, agreed to participate in seminars for the Altrad group and ceded his image rights to it.

All in return for a compensation of 180,000 euros.

suspicions

Problem, according to the prosecution: if this sum is paid from 2017, the contract will never be executed.

At the same time, during this period, the boss of French rugby intervened several times in support of Mr. Altrad, fueling suspicions of favoritism which will be brought before the courts at the end of 2017.

In March 2017, Bernard Laporte thus signed, on behalf of the FFR but without notifying its marketing division, a partnership contract of 1.8 million euros which made Altrad the first jersey sponsor in the history of the XV of France. .

The name of the group still appears there today under another contract of 35 million euros, concluded in January 2018 under the auspices of Mr. Laporte and in which the PNF sees the mark of corruption.

Other interventions made the investigators wince.

In June 2017, Mr. Laporte contacted the Federal Disciplinary Commission which imposed on appeal to the MHR, owned by Mr. Altrad, a fine of 70,000 euros.

After this phone call, the penalty will be reduced to 20,000 euros.

In March 2017, Mr. Laporte and his federation also opposed the decision of the National Rugby League (LNR) to postpone two Top 14 matches, one of which was to be played by Montpellier, a postponement to which Mr. Altrad was notoriously opposed.

Seized, the Council of State will question "the legality" of the decision of the FFR.

"Legality"

Behind all these interventions, the PNF detects illicit elevator referrals when Mr. Laporte's defense denounces "false causal links" and recalls that he waived his contract with Mr. Altrad in the summer of 2017, after the first revelations in the press.

Re-elected in 2020 at the head of the FFR, Bernard Laporte "is serene", affirms his lawyer, "he has the state of mind of a competitor".

The trial will also look at Claude Atcher's links with the FFR in 2017-2018, when his company Sport XV was entrusted with four missions, mainly in connection with the French bid for the 2023 World Cup.

According to the prosecution, one of them (governance advice valued at 21,000 euros) was never carried out, which will not prevent Mr. Laporte from signing an amendment granting Sport XV a bonus of 30,000 euros .

In total, the damage for the FFR will be assessed by the investigators at 80,400 euros.

According to his lawyer Céline Lasek, Claude Atcher was "parachuted into this affair, without foundation or justification" and "there is no reason to question the existence" of his work for the FFR, "carried out in perfectly lawful conditions".

© 2022 AFP