OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE OFFICIALS GO TO TRIAL IN CORRUPTION SCANDAL

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The trial of former officials of the Ligue 1 club, agents and others concluded, with jail time possible for former main shareholder Robert Louis-Dreyfus and manager Rolland Courbis. A decision and final sentencing is not expected until the end of May.

After a six-year investigation, prosecutors charged that officials were guilty of illegal payments involving 15 player transfers between 1997 and 1999, several prominent ex-players such as Frenchmen Claude Makelele, Christophe Dugarry and Laurent Blanc. The alleged embezzlement totaled more than EUR 22 million.

On the first day of the trial Louis-Dreyfuss denied any claims of illegal activity.

“I used to discuss the transfer price and then I seldom intervened," Dreyfus said. “I was not part of the negotiations.”

Marseille’s former delegate chairman Jean-Michel Roussier refuted those statements, saying Louis-Dreyfus was integral to the transfer talks.

Attracting particular attention from prosecutors was the transfer of Blanc from Spanish Primera Liga club FC Barcelona to Marseille in July of 1997. Blanc was transferred for EUR 2.13 million and received a “departure bonus.”

“(Blanc) was playing for a famous club in a championship which was much more prestigious than ours. He, therefore, was entitled to compensation from the selling side as a financial loss could be expected from his transfer,” Louis-Dreyfus said.

Former deputy chairman Jean-Michel Roussier added: “This didn't seem orthodox to me but I didn't see it as something illegal.”

The court also questioned transfer of Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli from Middlesbrough in September 1997. The court suspected that a departure bonus estimated at between 15 and 25 percent of the EUR 7 million deal was given back to the player.

Dugarry was expected to appear as a witness in the trial but was barred from the trial after he was observed talking to a lawyer for the defense, a former agent of Dugarry. The talk was a violation of a court order.

After two weeks, special prosecutor Marc Cimamonti asked for a two-year jail term for Courbis and a suspended jail term of three to four years for Louis-Dreyfuss, according to Reuters.

Cimamonti condemned what he described as widespread fraud at the club, saying at the trial: “We are talking about systematic infringement of the rules and organised fraud.”

“The match is more difficult than I had expected,” Courbis told reporters after hearing the prosecutor read out his demands. “Luckily it is not over yet. The attacks are severe. Our defence has to be better.”