Ex-Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom vows to fight extradition in French fraud case

He says he hasn’t spoken to the police, knew nothing about a court case and was blindsided by a sudden five-year jail term. Now Rocky Elsom says he will fight extradition.

Rocky Elsom was in Dublin when he read press reports that he had been found guilty of fraud, embezzlement and forgery. Picture: Megan Slade.

Former Australian rugby captain Rocky Elsom fears immediate arrest and will fight extradition to France following a fraud conviction and a five-year jail term which he claims is “a stitch up”.

Irish authorities have told Mr Elsom they are obliged to make the extradition arrest.

Mr Elsom said he was not notified about the French court action, held in absentia in Narbonne, which “blindsided me’’, but that he still has not been able to find out what he was convicted for.

The 41-year-old was in Dublin on October 12 when he read press reports that he had been found guilty of fraud, embezzlement and forgery concerning nearly 700,000 euros and that an international warrant had been issued for his arrest.

The charges relate to the period between 2013 and 2016 when Mr Elsom owned the Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée.

But on the weekend Mr Elsom told The Australian he still doesn’t have any court documents or details to be able to lodge an urgent “opposition” to the court ruling, usually required to be listed with French courts within 10 days.

This legal step would be to try and have the court decision ruled invalid because he had not been properly served about the case. This is separate to an appeal, which Mr Elsom says he will also lodge, saying he is confident of victory. He will also fight the extradition.

Mr Elsom, who is in Ireland, says he remains bewildered about the case, particularly as he has never been questioned by the police, nor faced any difficulty travelling outside of Australia. He says he has had the same email for more than 20 years, which includes the time he owned the Narbonne club.

“What did I actually do?” he asked, pointing to media reports of embezzlement’s fraud and forgery.

“But of what? And that’s the problem for me … if you say fraud, it’s like defrauding who and how, where? Embezzlement. Am I getting the money? You’re talking about 700,000 euros of investment. Are they? Are they saying that I got it? Whose signature do I need to forge when I am, you know, I am not only the president, but the majority shareholder.’’

He added that being convicted without being able to defend himself was highly irregular and only satisfied some petty people associated with the rugby team who had been upset at his management.

Under the French system each club has a board of directors representing the community which provides sponsorship. During his ownership of the club there had been tensions about Mr Elsom’s frugal spending on players and economic prudence, which was at odds with the Board’s desire to win games at all costs.

Mr Elsom believed the financial accusations and ultimate court finding began because he refused to allow a club takeover by a man claiming to represent the Qatari Investment Fund.

Mr Elsom had been a player at the Western Force in Perth when hundreds of people lost their savings in a $120m ploy after investing in Firepower, run by disgraced Perth businessman Tim Johnston. Mr Elsom told The Australia he rejected this particular so-called Qatari approach because he experienced a similar feeling to Firepower that something wasn’t quite right.

“That’s how they do it in France. They just throw all the mud,’’ Mr Elsom said, fearing even though the prosecutor’s legal argument was weak, he will still go to jail while mounting an appeal.

“The whole thing’s a bit fishy, isn’t it?”

Mr Elsom has provided The Australian with evidence that payments to his own trust fund had been authorised in 2012 and signed off by the Board later that year.

Payments to a second company in Hong Kong related to a medical data system which had also been authorised, he claimed. Mr Elsom said his position as owner and majority shareholder meant he could spend as he saw fit, but that he was very tight with the funds, only hiring players on low contracts to keep the club solvent.

“It’s a very consistent French theme of throwing it out there first, you know, trying to ruin someone’s public character in the public setting, and not having any detail to back it up,” he said. Mr Elsom said there were reports about a four-wheel drive vehicle being involved in the case, amid claims that he had taken the car. However Mr Elsom said there is email evidence the club knew exactly where the car was – with a player.

“I have an email right here that shows that they absolutely knew that a player had it and that he wasn’t giving it back, because he says it in the email to them, he’s not giving them back the car. And they say, well, Rocky took the car, and they knew that wasn’t the case.’’

He added: “And so what’s happening is the onus is on me to defend myself when I think that the onus should be on them to justify how they reached a five-year sentence in my absence and have gotten away with not releasing any of the documents … this is an absolute stitch up.’’