Why a French Rugby corruption scandal could impact Australian rugby

A high-profile corruption trial in a Paris court is set to reverberate around the rugby world after one of Rugby Australia’s staunchest allies and a billionaire sponsor of the Western Force were convicted on bribery charges this week.

World Rugby vice-president Bernard Laporte and construction magnate Mohed Altrad were both handed suspended jail sentences and five-figure fines in the Paris Criminal Court on Tuesday over a raft of business dealings undertaken over the past five years.

Bernard Laporte (right) was instrumental in Australia winning the hosting rights to the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Credit: Getty

Laporte, who is also the French Rugby Federation president and the man credited with winning France the hosting rights to next year’s World Cup in controversial circumstances, will appeal his two-year suspended jail sentence and $117,000 fine.

Lawyers for Altrad, the owner of French club Montpellier and sponsor of the Western Force, All Blacks and Black Ferns, have not yet declared their intentions. The 74-year-old was handed an 18-month suspended prison term and a $78,000 fine for active corruption, insider influencing and misuse of company assets.

The convictions sent shockwaves through international rugby and put the sport’s global governing body into damage control.

Laporte stood down from his World Rugby positions pending the outcome of his legal appeal, but will face investigation by World Rugby’s recently appointed ethics officer, Neil Hallett, regardless.

The move leaves a power vacuum at the top of the World Rugby governance tree, with Laporte’s support in 2020 key to the re-election of president Bill Beaumont. His position, should it remain vacant, will likely be filled by an official from a major northern hemisphere union, a move that could shift the balance of power even further away from the interests of southern hemisphere nations Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

Closer to home, New Zealand Rugby and the Western Force were taking time to consider their options on Wednesday. Neither party had any role in the criminal case brought against Altrad, but both organisations wear the Altrad Group logo on their jerseys after signing lucrative sponsorship deals with the company.

“The Force is in ongoing discussions with the Altrad Group and the club’s key stakeholders following the verdict by a French court overnight (WA time),” the Force said in a statement.

“The Force takes this matter very seriously and will seek further information from the company. The club will then review its sponsorship with Altrad accordingly.”

NZR told stuff.co.nz it was seeking an urgent meeting with Altrad’s representatives over the future of its $120 million naming rights partnership, while the Western Force were expected to follow suit.

The founder of the Force’s major sponsor, Altrad, has been found guilty of corruption in France.Credit: Getty

“We have been in discussions on the possibility of this outcome for some time,” NZ Rugby said in a statement. “With the verdict against Mr Altrad personally now having been handed down, we will be reconvening with representatives from the company immediately – as well as with our key stakeholders.”

There will be further fallout as the global game digests Laporte’s conviction. One of the most powerful figures in international rugby, he has been at the epicentre of some of the sport’s most controversial recent moments.

In 2017, in his capacity as president of FFR, he pulled off a major upset to win France the hosting rights to the 2023 World Cup, after an independent technical evaluation named South Africa the preferred hosts. The tournament has been mired in controversy, with its local boss Claude Atcher sacked for presiding over a poor office culture. Atcher also stood trial on corruption charges as part of the prosecution’s case against Laporte and was fined $7800 for his role in the scandal.

Nevertheless, next year’s tournament is on track to deliver a financial bonanza to World Rugby, with tickets selling out this week. It is also expected to be one of the closest competitions fought in the history of the 35-year-old tournament.

Laporte was also key in the 2020 re-election of World Rugby president Bill Beaumont, ousting popular challenger Agustin Pichot in a campaign battle seen as the game’s progressives (Pichot) against the game’s traditionalists (Laporte and Beaumont), who wanted to preserve the status quo.

Rugby Australia had supported Pichot’s reform agenda, disappointed at Beaumont’s failure to deliver new global competition structures, but more recently worked closely with both Beaumont and Laporte to secure hosting rights to the 2027 World Cup and 2029 women’s World Cup.

Altrad and Laporte’s convictions related to a series of business dealings the pair undertook in 2017 and 2018, in which prosecutors successfully argued that Laporte had favoured Altrad in a number of key decisions in return for a $280,000 payment, which was withdrawn when revealed by media.

Laporte was under siege in France from the moment the verdict was handed down, his main rival on the FFR board describing it as an “earthquake” for the game.

“It’s unheard of in rugby, it’s an earthquake. We’ve never seen a federation president sentenced to two years in prison, even if it’s suspended. It’s shocking,” Laporte’s rival Florian Grill told AFP.

The French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra weighed in, saying the conviction “makes it difficult” for Laporte to continue with the FFR when France was preparing “receive nations from all over the world”.

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