Rugby: the investigation targeting Bernard Laporte for suspicion of laundering tax fraud closed without further action

The investigation targeting former French rugby boss Bernard Laporte for laundering aggravated tax fraud was dismissed on March 21 for lack of offense, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) said on Wednesday, confirming information from Franceinfo. The former president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) as well as former rugby players Jean-Pierre Rives and Denis Charvet were placed in police custody in January 2023 in connection with this case.

The preliminary investigation into laundering of aggravated tax fraud began on September 21, 2020 following a report from Tracfin, the anti-money laundering unit of the Ministry of the Economy, recalled the PNF. The investigations, entrusted to the judicial financial investigation service (SEJF), looked into the conditions in which Jean-Pierre Rives, who was also captain of the XV of France, “entered, through an intermediary company, the capital of the company operating the Saint-Julien-en-Genevois casino” in Haute-Savoie, detailed the financial prosecutor’s office.

Suspicions centered on a donation of three million euros which allowed him to take a stake in this company, alongside Bernard Laporte and Denis Charvet. This sum, it was suspected, may not have been declared correctly to the tax authorities.

But, “on March 6, 2023”, i.e. less than two months after his custody, “Jean-Pierre Rives made a declaration of donation for his sole account of 3 million euros to the tax administration then paid the corresponding rights to the tune of 1.8 million euros,” reported the PNF. “In matters of donation, the tax is only due at the time of its declaration to the tax administration, with no time limit, so that no offense could be characterized,” noted the PNF, who closed the investigation.

Me Fanny Colin, lawyer for Bernard Laporte, took note “with satisfaction” of the closure of the investigation and recalled “the importance of respecting the secrecy of the investigation, the violation of which in this case led to the media coverage of the custody on sight of Mr. Laporte, which it has now proven to be unjustified, thus interfering with the vote then in progress relating to the governance of the FFR.

The three police custody took place during a referendum by the FFR on the designation of Patrick Buisson, supported by Bernard Laporte, as delegate president of the Federation. The no had won. Furthermore, Bernard Laporte and businessman Mohed Altrad, president of the Montpellier club, were given suspended prison sentences in Paris at the end of 2022 for a corruption pact linked in particular to the sponsorship of the French XV jersey. They appealed.