ex-Wallabies<\/a> and Leinster loose forward has proclaimed his innocence.<\/p>\nElsom\u2019s side of the story<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only am I innocent, but even if I had done what I\u2019m accused of, the charges aren\u2019t all that serious. For example, they said that \u20ac100,000 was paid to my company during my time as chairman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said that was true and that the transaction had even been approved by the supervisory board. But they said that this sum wasn\u2019t yet due. So it\u2019s not illegal, it\u2019s simply a matter of timing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked them when this sum was due, and they didn\u2019t answer me. Was it only \u20ac15,000 that was transferred too early? Was it a month too early? A few days? Why didn\u2019t they consult the supervisory board, which had fully supported me at the time?\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThere\u2019s another accusation that a club member, who is Australian, was being paid \u20ac7,200 a month for doing absolutely nothing. That he hadn\u2019t even shown up for work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI replied: \u2018Show me a single euro that went to this person. You have all the club\u2019s accounts, show them to me!\u2019 They said nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial list of accusations also mentioned that I had increased Daniel Halangahu\u2019s salary. But I wasn\u2019t the one who initiated that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve already shown the document proving that it was the former chairman (Anthony Hill) who forced the club to pay this player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsom was also asked about the forgery conviction, for which he was eventually acquitted in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know what the charges for forgery and use of forged documents were about? I signed the doctor\u2019s contract in my name on July 26th,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor also signed it on July 26th, but the contract is dated July 1st because it follows the previous year\u2019s contract. That\u2019s all. That\u2019s what I was found guilty of.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: \u2018Completely innocent\u2019 ex-Wallabies captain \u2018safe and well in hiding\u2019 despite international arrest warrant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wallabies star Rocky Elsom has vowed to return to France and attempt to clear his name providing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[428,819,348,3482,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-558131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-australia","tag-france","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}