French documents have for the first time detailed the case against the former Wallabies captain, who has branded it “weak”, and believes it reinforces his innocence.
French court documents reveal Rocky Elsom was sentenced to five years’ in jail in France amid claims he backdated a club doctor’s contract, had a payment from beer giant Heineken transferred to a company in his name and issued salary advances to players.
The champion back-rower, who was unable to offer a defence in court after French authorities failed to alert him to the trial, maintains his innocence. He has filed an opposition to the finding at the Narbonne criminal court, where a hearing has been scheduled on November 15. The documents for the first time detail the complaints made against Elsom by club officials who replaced him in 2016 as well as summarising witness accounts from several club staff.Their haphazard contents appear to give weight to Elsom’s argument that he has been unfairly blamed for the demise of the famous club in southern France and that the findings against him are without merit, much less worthy of five years behind bars.
The payment to Whitaker has been labelled as without justification by the liquidator’s lawyer, but Rouan himself conceded to Fabre that it was a legitimate exceptional charge for the player having his contract terminated. Adamant he knew nothing of such a document and that the club paid Tomiki’s debt only to a welfare agency, Elsom said: “There is no evidence to support claims that Mr Tomiki was paid anything other than the charges RCNM was obliged to pay on his behalf.”, former Narbonne director Bouchier, who remained on the board until November 2017, said that to his knowledge there was no record of an advance to Tomiki in 2016 and no evidence one had been given.
According to Fabre’s instructions to prosecutors, Elsom had falsely stated that he negotiated the fees with the firm when he was president of Narbonne while emails contained different amounts to those that appeared on invoices. “For the avoidance of doubt, RCNM Investments never made any payments to shareholders and only paid RCNM the rugby club or suppliers who provided a good or service to the club,” he said.
Narbonne fans show their support for the team at the club’s home ground, Parc des Sports et de l’Amitié.The existence of such a service provision contract was confirmed by Rouan, who said funds sent to Elke Elbow totalled €253,094 in 2016-17. Bouchier insisted Elsom had acted with the full support of the board and even if he didn’t have it, as the 97 per cent owner “all matters relating to RCNM were at his sole and lawful discretion”.The payments highlighted in the case were made at a time when Elsom was on the way out as the majority owner and president as the club’s board publicly attempted to force him to hand over control.
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