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.
However, the former Wallabies captain has rejected the case against him as “weak” after finally gaining access to details of the charges that brought about his shock conviction.
Rocky Elsom disputes the charges that led to his conviction in a criminal court in Narbonne this month.Credit: PA Images via Getty Images
A 17-page charge sheet compiled by investigating magistrate Melodie Fabre and seen by this masthead outlines the case against the 41-year-old, who was this month found guilty of misusing corporate assets and forgery in relation to his time as president and majority owner of Racing Club Narbonne (RCNM) a decade ago.
Elsom, who was ordered to pay the bankrupt club’s liquidator €705,532.60 ($1.16 million) in compensation, had been coaching at a school in Ireland but is now the subject of a European arrest warrant.
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 reveal Fabre dismissed charges of theft and of breach of trust, including in relation to a club-owned Land Rover Defender that had been lent to Tongan breakaway Chris Hala’ufia and allegedly not returned.
But she found Elsom had made various payments while the club was experiencing serious financial difficulties “in order to benefit his circle of friends and serve his own interests”.
It is a conclusion vehemently contested by Elsom, who maintains he only ever acted in the best interests of the club and who has been strongly supported with new testimony by former Narbonne board member Michael Bouchier.
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.
“At worst, it shows there might be a fragile civil case put against me if [the claims were] correct, but certainly there are no criminal offences here and nothing that I would say was detrimental to the club,” Elsom said.
The player payments
Elsom, who was a 97 per cent shareholder of Narbonne and its chief executive, was accused by club auditor Jean-Marc Rouan of a “cluster of anomalies” in the form of advances, payments and pay rises to Narbonne players in early July 2016, shortly before he relinquished power.
According to the documents, they included an advance of €42,600 to former Wallabies halfback Brett Sheehan; an increase of €1946.27 to €16,692.82 per month to former Waratahs playmaker Daniel Halangahu; a payment of €79,200 to former Australian halfback Chris Whitaker, a coach at Narbonne; a loan of €45,000 to former Waratahs, Brumbies and Wallabies hooker Huia Edmonds; an advance of €8000 to coach Patricio Noriega, the ex-Australia and Argentina prop; payments of €26,483 to Tom Boidin, a former Brumbies breakaway; and a cheque in the amount of €17,110 to analyst Warwick Harrington, who now works for the Brumbies. According to the club’s complaints, the payments were made over about 15 days and totalled €293,513.72.
Daniel Halangahu was player of the season for Narbonne in 2013-14, the club’s most successful season.Credit: Getty
The investigation heard how paying advances was common practice to secure quality players and that in most instances the money was recouped by time served. Elsom said it was regular for advances to be paid in July to mark the new season.
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.
Only the Halangahu deal and the hiring of French-speaking former club part-owner Chris Bayman as general manager was mentioned by the investigating magistrate in her findings.
Bayman, an Englishman based in Melbourne, told the Herald previously he had not been paid a cent of a €7200 per month salary because the club had changed its mind about bringing him in.
Elsom said Halangahu had received a huge bump as part of a backdated deal because of promises made when he was first signed before Elsom took charge. “It was a reasonable amount for a player like him,” he said. “But over and above that – they didn’t pay him.”
The Herald has seen Halangahu’s contract for the 2015-16 season, which was signed by Narbonne’s previous president and worth €11,542.84 a month. Halangahu has confirmed in a statement that he was cut loose by Narbonne after Elsom departed and has an unfair dismissal claim against the club still to be heard after eight years.
“It is in my honest opinion that Mr Elsom’s financial stewardship, over the three seasons he was the club’s majority owner, [was] a remarkable success”
Former Narbonne board member Michael Bouchier
Fabre, the investigating magistrate, referred Elsom to the criminal court on charges of forgery in relation to another alleged advance payment of €93,541.52 made to Leiataua Tomiki, a Tongan-born breakaway who played five games for the Waratahs. She determined that a written acknowledgment of Tomiki’s debt to the club had been made for a total of €96,000 and had been produced by Elsom, although there was no evidence to this effect contained in the documents.
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 [€39,657] on his behalf.”
In a separate statement seen by the Herald, 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.
Even if such a payment was made, Tomiki had three years remaining on his contract, and Bouchier contends that the club would, as a result, only have had its cash flow affected and not have incurred an actual loss. The same goes for other player payments, he said. “None of the agreements or payments … had a negative impact on the balance sheet,” Bouchier said.
The doctor
Elsom was also charged with forgery over a contract issued to club doctor Samy Djabelkhir. The medico had worked with Narbonne on match days in the 2015-16 season and was signed on a fixed deal for the 2016-17 campaign, when the club’s previous referring doctor resigned.
Elsom permitted Djabelkhir to take paid leave for the first few weeks of the deal in July 2016 but when the doctor returned from vacation, he said a club official told him he was not aware of the contract and he was dismissed.
It was claimed the doctor’s contract had been backdated by six days, but Elsom said: “It is ridiculous to suggest anyone committed forgery by signing on a document that accurately reflected his continuous employment.”
The other count of forgery related to a dispute over fees between the club and Paris law firm Gaulle Fleurance and Associate, which Narbonne had engaged when Elsom terminated the contract of head coach Justin Harrison.
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.
Elsom said it was unclear how he was alleged to have committed forgery over the engagement of the law firm in Paris.
None of the people who received payments from the club (including players, doctors and administrators) have been charged and they are not accused of wrongdoing.
The beer deals
Two agreements with beer companies also featured in the case against Elsom. The first was a sponsorship service deal with Heineken, which Fabre was told had made a €40,000 payment that hadn’t been recorded in the club’s accounts.
She found that Elsom had the cheque issued by the Dutch brewing giant to RCNM Investments, a company that held a stake in the Narbonne club and which he co-owned.
A deal with beer giant Heineken featured in the case against ElsomCredit: Istock
Elsom, who became club president in 2015, said he had not been aware of the Heineken payment and it came “from a time before I was RCNM president”.
“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.
The other alcohol-related transactions brought up in the investigation into Elsom were payments of €37,503 to a UK-based bar equipment and stock supplier called Beer Clear, for which Tongan international Halaʻufia was a director and for which no service was provided.
The deal was to replace Heineken in supplying beer and beer taps at Narbonne’s home ground.
According to Elsom, he did not know Halaʻufia was linked to the company but maintained it was entirely legitimate.
“I paid the deposit in the agreement [with Beer Clear], which was to supply beer and bar equipment,” he said. “[The club] didn’t honour the agreement, so no goods were provided.”
The Australian company
Fabre determined that Elsom had “indirectly benefited” from a payment of $149,480, or about €100,000, transferred in July 2016 to Elke Elbow, an Australian company trust registered in his name.
Rouan, the club auditor, said there had been no service provided and the investigating magistrate noted that a study of tax invoices from Elke Elbow did not itemise products or services.
Elsom told this masthead earlier this month that funds were sent to the company to hire Australian-based support staff such as a strength-and-conditioning coach and analysts on a part-time basis, with the arrangement approved by the board and announced in 2012.
Narbonne fans show their support for the team at the club’s home ground, Parc des Sports et de l’Amitié.Credit: Icon Sport via Getty Images
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.
According to Elsom, he was never obliged to itemise services provided by Elke Elbow, which could receive up to €15,000 per month.
“The agreement [with Elke Elbow] was ratified by the then board, most of whom returned to the board after Mr Elsom’s departure,” Bouchier said. “All subsequent annual general meetings show Elke Elbow as a company associated to Mr Elsom and list the amount paid.
“A decision was made by the board to pay Mr Elsom $149,480 or 20 per cent of the remaining monies owed to Elke Elbow as a settlement to conclude the arrangement earlier than agreed. It is important to note that all money received by Elke Elbow from RCNM is less than monies previously donated to RCNM by Elke Elbow.”
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 club finances
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.
Relations had broken down after he resisted the approaches of a Qatari investor, who local businessman and the mayor wanted to buy the club but who Elsom believed was not who he claimed to be.
The complaints against him stated that the then second-division team was experiencing serious financial difficulties and that at an extraordinary general meeting on July 5, 2016 shareholders decided to provide a €630,000 injection of funds. In return, Elsom was not to issue any payments without authorisation.
Elsom argues he did not agree to such an undertaking because there had been no guarantee that a share offer he had made to facilitate his exit from the club would be subscribed to. He also said he had no access to the additional funds.
Elsom, who was paid €7000 a month as player rather than as an administrator, according to court documents, has also maintained that the club was in better shape than was made out, a position backed by former board member Bouchier.
He said Elsom had turned the club around when he took over, presiding over strong profits in 2013-14, when Narbonne broke almost every sporting record in the club’s history, and in 2014-15 despite suffering drops in sponsorship.
Bouchier said an official loss of €350,000 from the 2015-16 season was overstated and said the club had cash reserves of €450,000 when Elsom issued new shares.
“It is in my honest opinion that Mr Elsom’s financial stewardship, over the three seasons he was the club’s majority owner, [was] a remarkable success in very difficult and trying circumstances,” Bouchier said.
As a sitting board member beyond Elsom’s tenure, he said he had seen the new administration carry out what he deemed unlawful sackings of players and staff as annual spending increased from €4.5 million, ultimately rising to more than €7 million.
The club would subsequently be relegated after winning only seven of 30 games in 2017-18 and then placed into administration. It was a downfall that could not be attributed to Elsom, according to Bouchier.
“As RCNM spent millions of euros more in each season after Mr Elsom’s departure, any claim that RCNM was in a precarious financial position at the time of handover, was factually inaccurate and defies logic,” he said.
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