The former Leinster and Australia rugby player Rocky Elsom has denied the charges of forgery and embezzlement dating from his time as president of French club Narbonne that led to him being convicted last week.
The 41-year-old was found guilty of forgery, use of forgery and misuse of corporate assets in 2014 and 2015 by a court in the French city and sentenced to five years. An international arrest warrant was then issued. He has also been ordered to repay some €700,000 to the club.
However, in the statement carried by the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, Elsom said he had not been informed of the court hearing or given an opportunity to defend the allegations.
“Not allowing me to defend the charges is a clear perversion of justice,” said Elsom, with the paper reporting that he was going to appeal the guilty verdict.
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“I have little more information on the evidence that was presented in the hearing [other] than [what] is in the public domain,” Elsom said. “So, I can only address the allegations that have been raised publicly.
“I have not been questioned in this matter and the lengthy process seems to have deliberately excluded me from giving evidence.”
Elsom played for Leinster in the 2008-2009 season and contributed to the team winning its first European Champions Cup, being selected as player of the match in the semi-final and final.
He recently said in an interview with the Sunday Times that he had returned to Dublin, was living in Rathmines, and coaching rugby at the Catholic University School in Leeson Street while recovering from an injury.
He told the newspaper he was taking a break from his construction business in Queensland and planned to stay in Ireland until the end of the year.
The former Ireland rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll once described Elsom as “the best player I have ever played with” and said he would not have won his first European Rugby Champions Cup in 2009 without him.
Elsom, who was once likened to “a modern-day renaissance man, a Leonardo da Vinci in studs” by an Australian journalist, represented Narbonne as a player in the 2013-14 season.
A lawyer involved in the court case, Patrick Tabet, told AFP that Elsom was accused of having paid €79,000 to a former coach when “nothing could justify it”, while he was also alleged to have paid €7,200 a month to an individual residing in Australia who “never came to Narbonne” and “did not perform any service” for the club.
The Australian made his international debut in 2005 and was captain of the Wallabies from 2009 to just before the 2011 Rugby World Cup, a tournament in which he played.
In his 2009 season with Leinster, he played 20 matches, won 13 man-of-the-match awards, six in nine games in the Heineken Cup, including the best player accolade in the semi-final victory over Munster at Croke Park, and the final win against the Leicester Tigers at Murrayfield. He was never replaced during a Leinster match.
The French prosecutor requested a two-year prison term, but the president of the criminal court sentenced him to five years and issued an international arrest warrant.
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