Bernard Laporte, the French Federation president, and his business partner and friend Mohed Altrad, could each face the prospect of a year in jail as well as a two-year ban from all involvement in rugby pending a judge’s verdict after a judicial hearing into allegations of corruption.
The two men, along with three others – Serge Simon, French Rugby Federation (FFR) vice-president, Claude Atcher, the director general of the 2023 Rugby World Cup organising committee, and his business partner Benoît Rover – will learn their fate on December 13th.
The prosecutors for PNF, (Parquet national financier), the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, Céline Guillet and François-Xavier Dulin, are seeking three-year prison sentences, with two years suspended, against Laporte and Altrad, as well as fines of €50,000 and €200,000, two-year bans from holding any position, even voluntary, in connection with rugby and from managing a commercial company, in light of what they allege was a “corruption pact”.
Laporte has been accused of ‘unlawful taking of interest’, ‘passive influence peddling by a public official’, ‘passive bribery by a public official’, ‘concealment of misuse of corporate assets’, ‘breach of trust’ and ‘misuse of corporate assets’.
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Altrad has been accused of ‘active influence peddling’, ‘active bribery’ and ‘misuse of corporate assets’. All five men deny the allegations.
Dulin is seeking punishments “commensurate with the seriousness of the offenses and their duration over time”. The PNF included a ‘provisional execution’, which means any punishments could not be suspended in the event of an appeal.
If convicted therefore, Laporte, who is also the current vice-chairman of World Rugby, and Altrad, who is the owner and president of current French champions Montpellier as well as being the primary shirt sponsor of both the French and New Zealand national rugby teams, would have no involvement in the forthcoming 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The impending verdict follows a five-year investigation by the PNF dating back to 2017, when it was alleged that Laporte agreed an image rights contract with Altrad, and then pressurised the French League’s (LNR) appeals committee to drop sanctions against Montpellier for the display of banners at Montpellier’s Altrad Stadium.
Laporte’s intervention led to seven members of the committee resigning.
Later that year, Altrad was confirmed as the first ever shirt sponsor of the French national team and added his financial clout to the country’s World Cup bid.
The Syrian-born Altrad was raised by his grandparents and claims to have lived as a shepherd in his home country before being awarded a scholarship of 200 francs from the Syrian government to study in France.
He obtained a diploma from Paris Dauphine University and having worked for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, he bought a scaffolding company in France in 1985, going on to become a billionaire through the scaffolding and cement-mixing industries which bear his name.
There had been intense media speculation about the accused men ever seen France’s successful bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup ahead of Ireland and South Africa in 2017, beginning with an article in the Le Journal du Dimanche, a French Sunday newspaper, which cited evidence of a contract between Altrad and Laporte.
The French sports daily newspaper l’Equipe has since been unwavering in its investigations of Laporte and Altrad, surviving two failed libel actions by the FFR president.
There followed a report by the IGJS. Created in 1964, the Inspectorate General of Judicial Services (IGJS) is a service under the responsibility of the minister of justice and freedoms. This led to Laporte and Altrad being questioned at the offices of the Brigade for the Repression of Economic Crime (BRDE).
Guillet began her indictment by asking: “Should the president of the FFR and the Altrad group be investigated? Should we prosecute all these men who have given so much to rugby and to France?”
Answering her own question, Guillet said: “There was the JDD article of August 2017, the IGJS report, the two defamation complaints against a press organ (L’Équipe) which did not succeed, the report of the Agence française anticorruption . . . Yes, it had to be investigated. It is not the LNR, the JDD, L’Équipe or Médiapart but it is the minister of sports who takes legal action a few days after the flamboyant success in obtaining the 2023 World Cup. And who stands to gain? Nobody. But yes, it should be very clear: it was necessary to investigate.”
The investigation, she said, met “an ethical requirement”.
The 18-strong investigation team processed 650 files, and Guillet said: “Our role has been caricatured a lot, we would be there to trap, to carry out a vendetta. When we ask questions of people who have chosen to lie . . . our objective is the manifestation of the truth.”
At the heart of the allegations against Laporte and Altrad is the €180,000 contract which the latter paid to the former for an image contract.
The prosecution alleged that Laporte intervened in favour of Altrad regarding a swimwear partnership, Altrad’s plans to take over the Gloucester club, reform of a league decision concerning match postponements and pressure on the chairman of the appeal commission to lower the sanctions against Montpellier.
The prosecution claimed: “The image contract between the Altrad group and Bernard Laporte was the original sin. That the Altrad group was the goose that lays the golden egg for the FFR. That we never find a written corruption pact but that it can be deduced from factual circumstances, and the list is quite substantial in this case. That Mohed Altrad first claimed in the press that this contract did not exist. This image contract, paid €180,000 on the spot but never executed, constitutes the advantage granted.
“And what about the weak insistence on being reimbursed by Mr Altrad knowing that Mr Laporte waited for this trial to finalise the reimbursement? Under these conditions, Mr Laporte’s declaration of renunciation in September 2017 has no value. He and Mr Altrad were not released from this corruption pact.”
Last Wednesday, Altrad’s lawyer Antoine Vey, admitted that the indictment “was much heavier than all our forecasts” but countered: “The judicial process leads us here in its flaws, its excesses, its compromises. For the one I defend, his only chance is to face real magistrates.”
He also questioned any proof of an alleged corruption pact.
“There are no text messages or e-mails that demonstrate the existence of the day when, in exchange for €180,000, the original contract mutated into a corruption pact. There is nothing.”
Further questioning the proof provided by the prosecution, Vey described the PNF’s strategy thus: “Create a prejudice and, not having the proof, ask the judges to fill in the holes with prejudices.”
Subsequently, Laporte’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, highlighted “the weakness of the investigation” and the demand for “crazy penalties”, concluding: “I appeal to your humanity. Why always tarnish everything? Laporte and Altrad are two people who get along well.”
In an unrelated affair Atcher was suspended from his role as the chief executive of the organising committee for the 2023 Rugby World Cup following a preliminary investigation into his workplace conduct.
L’Équipe had reported in June that the 66-year-old oversaw a ‘climate of terror’ at Groupement d’Interet Public (GIP), with employees suffering panic attacks, burn-out, as well as verbal abuse.
The case and impending verdict against Laporte, Altrad and the other three men will have particularly resonance with those involved in the Irish bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup, given the accused men were the driving force behind the successful bid when the World Rugby Council voted in November 2017.
France topped the first count with 18 votes, followed by South Africa on 13 and Ireland on eight, which led to Ireland being eliminated, before France won the second count 24-15.
Although it was a secret ballot, it is commonly assumed that Scotland’s three votes supported the French bid, on the promise that it would generate bigger profits for World Rugby, and Wales’s three votes backed the South African bid.
The Italians had pledged their support for Ireland’s bid until a few days beforehand, when notifying the IRFU that they would instead be voting for France.
Had Scotland and Wales sided with Ireland, they would have had 14 first-round votes, with France on 15 and South Africa on 10 votes and thereby eliminated.
Members of the Irish bidding team were convinced that the three votes apiece from New Zealand, whose government and union had been very supportive of the Irish bid until South Africa won the recommendation in the World Rugby report, and Australia would then also have transferred from South Africa to Ireland. That alone would have taken them to the winning quota of 20 votes.
The timeline
December 2016
Election of Bernard Laporte as President of the FFR.
February 2017
Signature of an image contract linking Bernard Laporte, via BLCommunication, to the group of Mohed Altrad (AIA, Altrad Investment Authority).
March 2017
Altrad becomes a jersey sponsor of the French national team with an inscription “#France2023 supported by Altrad” until November 2017, the date of the awarding of the World Cup.
June 29, 2017
The FFR appeal committee chaired by Jean-Daniel Simonet confirms the disciplinary sanctions decided at first instance against Montpellier (one match suspension, €70,000 fine).
June 30, 2017
The sanctions are reduced (match suspension lifted and fine reduced to €20,000 euros) after telephone exchanges between Bernard Laporte and Jean Daniel Simonet.
August 2017
The Journal du Dimanche reveals the existence of the image contract linking Laporte to Altrad. Laporte announced that he would give it up and defended himself against any pressure on Simonet. A wave of resignations on the appeal commission follows.
December 2017
The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) asks the BRDE to investigate suspicions of favouritism.
January 2018
Altrad appointed sponsor of the French jersey for the 2018-2023 period. Searches at the CNR (National Rugby Centre) of Marcoussis as well as at the homes of Bernard Laporte and Mohed Altrad.
September 2020
Bernard Laporte, Mohed Altrad, Serge Simon, Claude Atcher are brought into police custody at the BRDE headquarters.
October 2020
Re-election of Bernard Laporte as President of the FFR.
July 2021
The BRDE completes its investigation report and sends it to the PNF.
September 7th-22nd 2022
The hearing into the allegations against the five men.
December 13th 2022
The verdict.
The punishments being sought by the PNF
Bernard Laporte, president of the FFR
- Three years in prison, one of which is closed.
- Two-year ban on managing a commercial company.
- Two-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby, even on a voluntary basis.
- €50,000 euro fine.
Mohed Altrad, owner and president of the Montpellier HR, and whose group is the main financial partner of the FFR
- Three years in prison, one of which is firm.
- Two-year ban on managing a commercial company.
- Two-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby, even on a voluntary basis.
- €200,000 euro fine.
Claude Atcher, former owner of Score XV, and chief executive of the organising committee for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, form which he is currently suspended by World Rugby, following a preliminary investigation into his workplace conduct at Groupement d’Interet Public (GIP).
- One year in prison, including six months in prison.
- Three-year ban on managing a commercial company.
- One-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby, even on a voluntary basis.
- €50,000 fine.
Benoît Rover, owner of Score XV, deputy director for Employment and Training at GIP 2023
- One year in prison, including six months in prison.
- Three-year ban on managing a commercial company.
- One-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby, even on a voluntary basis.
Serge Simon, vice-president of the FFR
- One year in prison, including six months.
- One-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby, even on a voluntary basis.
- €10,000 fine.
