French rugby chief Laporte faces graft probe

BORDEAUX • French rugby federation president Bernard Laporte is being investigated over claims he benefited from a fake job in exchange for favours.

Prosecutors in Bordeaux are probing Laporte for potential "forgery, fraud, misuse of corporate assets and concealment of misuse of corporate assets".

The 56-year-old was recently re-elected as head of French rugby. His campaign was briefly interrupted when he was taken into police custody in late September on suspicions that as president he favoured Top 14 club Montpellier.

The Frenchman is also vice-chairman of global governing body World Rugby.

Confirmation of the investigation comes after claims in French sports daily L'Equipe from a whistle-blower of a €10,000-per-month (S$15,900), no-show job allegedly handed to Laporte several years ago by former figure skater Marc Faujanet.

Faujanet, 61, is also a former director and partner of a company based near Bordeaux specialising in the construction and operation of nursing homes.

His nephew, Julien Faujanet, alerted authorities to the alleged offence.

Julien told L'Equipe that his uncle had offered Laporte the job with Espace Loisirs Concepts "in exchange for easier access to land via Laporte's connections" in the Gironde area that surrounds Bordeaux.

Laporte's lawyer Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi said that "neither he nor I have any idea what this is about".

"There is always an investigation no matter how stupid the complaint is. This is all scandalous," he added.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE