Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom has broken his silence after being sentenced to five years in prison in France following an international arrest warrant issued against him last weekend.
Elsom, who made 65 appearances for the NSW Waratahs and 75 caps for the Wallabies, He was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for embezzling corporate assets during his tenure as president of French rugby club Narbonne.
Elsom was found guilty of forgery and ordered to repay €705,000 ($1.1 million) for his stay at the club between 2015 and 2016.
He was accused of paying 79,000 euros ($128,000) to a former coach without justification and hiring an Australian general manager for 7,200 euros ($11,500) a month, even though he did not provide services to the club.
The court gave Elsom a two-year sentence longer than the one requested by the prosecutor.
The prosecution claimed that Elsom was “untraceable and unreachable throughout the process” and the former Wallaby was sentenced in absentia, which ultimately led to the international arrest warrant.
However, Elsom has denied any wrongdoing in an explosive statement.
An international arrest warrant has been issued for former Wallaby Rocky Elsom after a French court sentenced him to five years in prison.
The former Wallaby has requested copies of the documents that French lawyer Patrick Tabet used to obtain the five-year sentence and has hired the services of a French lawyer.
“In the interest of a fair and equitable process, I would ask Mr. Tabet to send me a complete list of the documents and submissions he used to obtain the five-year prison sentence,” Elsom told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘Not allowing me to defend the charges is a clear perversion of justice. I have little more information about the evidence that was presented at the hearing (aside from) than (what) is in the public domain.
‘Therefore, I can only address the allegations that have been raised publicly.
“I ask the public to consider the legitimacy of any process that does not allow the participation of the person prosecuted.”
Pictured left to right: Rocky Elsom, Brian O’Driscoll, halfback Felipe Contepomi and Gordon D’Arcy celebrate winning the 2009 Heineken Cup with Leinster.
Elsom claimed the court case was fast-tracked after he gave an interview published in the Irish newspaper The Times.
when he Irish times When contacted by Elsom, the newspaper reported that he was reluctant to give interviews because he “didn’t want some old acquaintances to find out through the media that he was back in town.”
However, Elsom claimed his contact details were freely available but that no one had approached him about the hearing that led to his sentencing and subsequent court order.
“I have been contacted via my email address and phone number, but it appears the court process was accelerated after an article appeared in The Sunday Times recently,” he said.
‘This article provides my location, occupation and upcoming scheduled events.
“I have not been questioned about this matter and the lengthy process appears to have deliberately excluded me from testifying.”
Elsom (pictured right) had not been seen in Leinster for almost 15 years until he re-emerged as coach of a second division school team.
Elsom left the Super Rugby competition after the 2008 season to join Irish club Leinster, helping them win the Heineken Cup in 2009.
He turned down an invitation to celebrate the anniversary of that victory in 2019, but returned to Ireland earlier this year to coach Catholic University School (CUS) in the second division of Dublin schools rugby.
Despite having a rich history with Leinster, The Times reported that the only teammate he knew would return was Leo Cullen, and that was only because Elsom had contacted him for a coaching job.
The Times reported that Elsom ran into former teammate Malcolm O’Kelly three days later at a Pixies concert.. It was there that Elsom learned by chance that A meeting in Leinster had been planned for a couple of nights. later.
The meeting was in honor of outgoing former operations manager Ronan O’Donnell and O’Kelly invited Elsom to join us.
The former wallaby was reportedly reluctant because his relationships with O’Donnell he had not been good in his day.
He Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Elsom was believed to have been in Ireland last week and had been invited as a special guest to the marquee Leinster-Munster clash on Sunday (AEST).
With the international arrest warrant issued on Saturday Australian time, the former Wallaby did not show up for the match.
Initially, Narbonne enjoyed early success under the management of Elsom, who broke up the squad and adopted a ‘Moneyball’ approach in order to match other cash-rich clubs.
In the short term, he worked with Narbona on the track to reach the French Top 14.
“He wasn’t the most popular guy in town at the time, but he would have been less popular in the long term if those measures hadn’t been taken,” Elsom told SBS in 2014.
However, that success never came, as Narbona were relegated and Elsom exited in 2016.
