The president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) Bernard Laporte, sentenced Tuesday, December 13 to two years in prison suspended for corruption, will propose Thursday to the Minister of Sports“his withdrawal” of his duties pending his appeal trial, announced Monday, December 19 evening the FFR.
Bernard Laporte, who “remain president” of the FFR, will also propose to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra her temporary replacement by a president-delegate, said the Federation in a press release, sent following the holding of a Federal Bureau in the morning.
According to the Federation, Bernard Laporte “informed the Federal Bureau of its desire to follow the injunction of the FFR Ethics Committee to the letter”who had asked him on Friday to “withdraw temporarily, as a precaution, until a final criminal decision”.
Convicted of passive bribery and influence peddling
Therefore, the statement adds, “the Federal Office has decided unanimously by its members and in accordance with the regulations and statutes of our institution, to follow and apply to the letter the injunction of the Ethics Committee”.
In office since the end of 2016, Bernard Laporte, re-elected in 2020 for a four-year term, was found guilty on December 13 of five of the six offenses for which he was prosecuted, including those of passive corruption and influence peddling.
Having appealed the decision of the Paris Criminal Court, his suspended prison sentence, as well as the ban on exercising the activity of president of the FFR for a period of two years, are not immediately enforceable.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announced on Sunday that she would receive Bernard Laporte on Thursday, after having estimated, as soon as the judgment was made public, that the conviction of the former coach of the Blues made « obstacle » to his mission at the head of the FFR, nine months from the Rugby World Cup in France, from September 8 to October 28, 2023.