The boss of French rugby withdrew “temporarily and voluntarily” “with immediate effect” from his duties as vice-president of World Rugby, the body which governs the rules of the oval ball, this Tuesday, December 3, a few hours after having was given a two-year suspended prison sentence for corruption and influence peddling.
Benard Laporte was sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros, found guilty of five of the six offenses for which he was prosecuted, including passive corruption and influence peddling for the benefit of Mohed Altrad, president of the Montpellier club.
Appeal against conviction
The governing body of world rugby thus explains in a press release that it has taken “note of the decision taken by its vice-president Bernard Laporte to temporarily and voluntarily withdraw from all the functions occupied within the governance of the international federation, with effect immediate, following his conviction by the French court in the context of a national case”.
The World Rugby Executive Committee has further entrusted its Independent Ethics Officer to rule on the case of Bernard Laporte for review, in accordance with its Code of Integrity.
As the President of the French Federation has appealed against his conviction, the suspended prison sentence as well as the additional penalty of prohibition to exercise the activity of President of the FFR, for a period of two years, are not immediately enforceable.
The Minister of Sports unfavorable to its maintenance
The Minister of Sports Amélie Ouéda-Castéra, however, considered that this condemnation “obstructed” the continuation of her mission at the head of the FFR less than a year from the World Cup in France (September 8-October 28). .
Ouéda-Castéra also called for “a new democratic era to allow French rugby as quickly as possible to start again on sufficiently healthy and solid bases”. At the beginning of August, World Rugby appointed an independent ethics manager, responsible for implementing its code of integrity voted in 2021.
New Zealander Neil Hallett, who served in the police for thirty-five years before retiring in 2020 as an inspector, “will act completely independently of World Rugby”, had then explained the body, wishing to advocate “a world sport for all, faithful to its values”.