FACING THE AUDITORS
Although Jean-Pierre Bernès has now become a player agent who counts on the world football market, his name remains associated with one of the biggest scandals in the history of French football. In 1993, during the VA-OM affair, he was general manager of the Marseille club, Bernard Tapie's right-hand man, and had participated in the attempted bribery of three Valenciennes players. He had acknowledged the facts and had been sentenced to two months' suspended imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 francs (approximately 750 euros) two years later.
"It's been a very difficult time in my life, a period that has left a lot, and that still marks me," said the current player agent in the program " Face aux auditeurs sur Europe 1." It's something that touched me a lot, and if I went into football, it was not to live such moments, we made a mistake, the advantage is that I assumed it. I have no problem with that, I recognized the mistake I made. "
Heard on europe1:
I wanted to show that the image I had given at that time did not correspond to what I am
Six years after the VA-OM affair, Jean-Pierre Bernès became a player agent, a profession he has become today one of the references, with notably Didier Deschamps as client. "In my family, it was complicated to say that I was going back to football, everyone had suffered from that," he admitted. "But I wanted to show that the image I gave at the time did not correspond to who I am, and I think that for twenty years I have not done too badly to become an agent. I did it by my work and for me it's a great personal achievement. "
From this case, and days spent in pretrial detention, Jean-Pierre Bernès learned a lesson in life. "I often meet people who are having difficulties, my daughter is a medical student, she says to me: 'Dad, when you come out of the medical center, there are people who suffer.' I am a very emotional person, very sensitive and, when people are in trouble, I like to get closer to them and I like to say to them: 'Me too, I was in difficulty', but if we believe in our star, we can bounce . "
Heard on europe1:
I think we're getting out of this, but I would have done well
Although he has now managed to win again in football, Jean-Pierre Bernès says keep a scar of this episode. "I think we're getting out of this, but I would have done better, I would have hurt my family less (...) Today, I am respected, I go everywhere, I auditioned at National Assembly, in the Senate Everything has gone to the media, public, but internally, it's a wound that I have for life, and this wound, nobody will take it away.It's a half open scar half closed, she is there. "
If he agreed to return in all frankness on this case VA-OM, Jean-Pierre Bernès on the other hand refused to return on the charges brought last month by Marc Fratani, former collaborator of Bernard Tapie, whom he accuses in particular for trying to buy a referee at a PSG-OM. "Thirty years later, talking about stuff, it does not interest me, it's a passage in my life that I completely ignored and I do not want to answer that."