The French rugby disciplinary council was lenient with the French champion club.
Stade Toulousain finally knows its sanction in the Jaminet affair. And she is (very) lenient. The three-time reigning French champion receives a withdrawal of 4 points (including 2 suspended) from the ranking of the current Top 14 season. As well as two fines, the first of 10,000 euros, the second of double. The withdrawal of points and the first fine are pronounced on the grounds of “Erroneous and/or fraudulent accounting and/or misappropriated financing resulting from legal and financial dressing”. The second fine sanctions a “erroneous accounting due to financial flows, prepaid expenses and the absence of mention in the annex.”
«The Disciplinary Council concluded that the elements in the file demonstrated that the financial flows between the club and the companies PACIFIC HEART – RUGBY STORE, presented in particular as an agency agreement aimed at organizing a tour of Stade Toulousain in French Polynesia, had in reality served in particular to settle the financial consequences of the departure of Mr. Melvyn Jaminet from the USAP club and that this arrangement was part of a legal and financial disguise aimed at diverting funding from its true purpose. notes the decision in its reasoning.
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Before justifying its scale of sanctions. “With regard to the nature and quantum of the sanctions, the Disciplinary Council took into account i) the absence of impact on the level of payroll authorized by the club by the CCCP in view of its significantly positive equity, ii) the partial recognition of the facts, and iii) the financial contribution already paid by the club within the framework of the mediation agreement entered into due to the facts in question under the specific provisions of the Salary Cap regulations.”
Stade Toulousain deplores “a procedure which has profoundly affected its image”
The club reacted quickly via a laconic press release. “Stade Toulousain takes note of the decision rendered by the National Rugby League. The decisions handed down come at the end of a procedure whose terms have profoundly affected its image and we deplore this. Attached to its values of transparency and responsibility, Stade Toulousain will analyze in the coming days, with its advice, the opportunity to appeal to have its rights respected.
Summoned a week ago to the League headquarters in Paris, the lawyers of Stade Toulousain had to answer before the commission “regulation” of the French Rugby Disciplinary Council, an independent body placed under the responsibility of the FFR made up of seven members (lawyers, accountants, financiers), three designated by the FFR, three others by the LNR and one last by mutual agreement.
This hearing followed the affair linked to the transfer of Melvyn Jaminet. After pleading guilty and agreeing to pay a fine of 1.3 million euros to the League for circumvention of the salary cap, the Rugby Regulatory Authority (A2R), an organization co-managed by the LNR and the FFR, in turn took up this matter. In question, this time, the presentation of an insincere budget, the 500,000 euros diverted to reimburse Jaminet having been allocated to an accounting line “future tour”. A trip to Fiji supposed to take place during the 2023 World Cup and which never took place.
Two theses clashed
A close friend of the president of Stade Toulousain, Didier Lacroix, admitted manipulation to Le Figaro. “Two theses are opposed. That of the League, which believes that, from the beginning, Stade Toulousain, on the advice of lawyer Arnaud Dubois, had planned to sign a false contract with Pacific Heart which would serve as a cover to convey the money that Stade Toulousain intended to pay to Melvyn Jaminet outside of the salary cap. For them, this contract has been, since its conception, a salary cap fraud. The thesis of Stade Toulousain is that there was really an intention to tour Fiji during the 2023 World Cup. Initially, the contract was signed with this in mind.” Before, therefore, being fraudulently diverted to reimburse the international.
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For the lawyers of the French champion club, however, this second procedure is unnecessary. It would violate the fundamental principle of criminal law according to which one cannot be convicted twice for the same facts. Furthermore, according to them, the League’s regulations stipulate that, when mediation has taken place, the facts contained in the salary cap manager’s report cannot be the subject of new proceedings. Article 10.1.7 of the chapter devoted to the salary cap states that “the mediation agreement signed by all parties extinguishes any risk of disciplinary proceedings in respect of the breaches on which the agreement was reached”.
Criminal investigation for “breach of trust”
The League displays a different interpretation. The Professional Championships Control Commission (CCCP), contacted by the A2R, is a separate and independent body from that which deals with the salary cap. It would therefore not be bound by the regulation. What the defenders contest, as they do not have their own legal personality, they would both be components of the same and unique body, the LNR…
This matter is, however, far from over. Stade Toulousain can appeal the sanction of the Disciplinary Council, or even appeal to the CNOSF for conciliation. Furthermore, this sum of 500,000 euros having vanished into thin air, a preliminary investigation for “breach of trust” was opened in April by the Toulouse public prosecutor’s office. The opaque conditions of the transfer of Melvyn Jaminet “raise at least legitimate questions”noted David Charmatz, the public prosecutor of Toulouse. This investigation was entrusted to the financial brigade of the DCOS (Organized and Specialized Crime Division) of the DIPN (Interdepartmental Directorate of the National Police). Stade Toulousain continues to have to provide explanations.
