French media say a global arrest warrant has been issued for former Australian rugby star Rocky Eltham after he was convicted of corruption in France.
The previous captain of the Australian nationwide staff served as president of RC Narbonne, certainly one of France’s most prestigious golf equipment, in the course of the 2015-16 season. On Friday, a court docket dominated that he paid tens of hundreds of euros to former membership officers however offered little or no companies.
Elsom was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 5 years in jail, French media reported.
He just lately instructed The Sunday Instances that he lives in Dublin, the Irish capital.
In a media interview revealed on October 6, Elsom mentioned he was teaching at Catholic Collegiate Faculty, a non-public boys’ faculty in Dublin. He mentioned he plans to reside within the metropolis till December.
The 41-year-old Irish sports activities celeb performed for the Leinster rugby staff within the late 2000s and helped the staff win the Heineken Cup, Europe’s prime membership rugby championship, in 2009.
From 2005 to 2011, he additionally represented the Australian nationwide staff (nicknamed “Wallabies”) 75 instances.
In accordance with native media experiences, a French court docket discovered Elsom responsible of misusing firm property and forging paperwork throughout his tenure as membership president.
Patrick Thabet, a lawyer concerned within the case, was quoted by a Western French newspaper as saying Elsom paid a “utterly unreasonable” €79,000 (£66,000) to a former coach and paid an Australian a month-to-month wage of €7,200. Residents who’ve “by no means been to Narbonne”.
The membership was positioned into administration in 2018 and relegated to the decrease leagues.
The choose imposed a harsher sentence than the 2 years prosecutors had requested. Mr Thabet mentioned the previous Kangaroos star had additionally been ordered to repay round €705,000 (£586,000).
