Valenciennes, Monday,
THE former right-hand man of maverick football boss turned politician
Bernard Tapie testified today that the former Marseille chairman ordered
him to bribe opponents to lose a key match in 1993.
Jean-Pierre Bernes, general secretary of the club at the time, told a
court in this northern mining town that Tapie, a former Cabinet
Minister, personally initiated the match-rigging attempt six days before
Marseille won the European Cup.
''It is time to tell the truth,'' Bernes told a hushed court. ''There
was an attempt at bribery on my part, on Bernard Tapie's orders, with
(former Marseille midfielder) Jean-Jacques Eydelie as the
intermediary.''
Tapie, Bernes, Eydelie, two Valenciennes players who admitted
receiving money -- Jorge Burruchaga and Christophe Robert -- and
Robert's wife all face up to three years in jail if convicted of their
roles in the scandal.
Presiding judge Bernard Langlade asked Bernes, who had not previously
fingered the French and European MP in nearly two years of
investigation, if he realised the seriousness of the accusation.
''Yes, but I have had enough of hearing other people tell lies,'' the
co-defendant replied.
He said the whole Marseille team and then-trainer Raymond Goethals had
known about the match-rigging, which had been decided aboard Tapie's
yacht, the Phocea, the previous weekend.
Marseille beat lowly Valenciennes 1-0 to secure a fifth league title
in six seasons.
Tapie, 52, who denies any involvement, earlier clashed with the judge,
who threatened to expel him from court after he interrupted the reading
of the charge sheet, insulted the public prosecutor, and disrupted
testimony.
Football authorities stripped Marseille of the French and European
titles and relegated it to the second division. Tapie was banned from
holding any further position at the club.
The rags-to-riches businessman, who is also fighting a separate court
ruling declaring him bankrupt and ineligible to hold public office for
five years, began the day in a typically combative mood.
''The search for truth demands that you should not just say any old
thing,'' he exploded after fidgeting impatiently through the reading of
the indictment.
Casting doubt on the judiciary's independence from the centre-right
government, he accused investigating magistrate Bernard Beffy of having
''obeyed his boss's orders'' by charging him with active corruption.
''I am warning you, Mr Tapie. I will not allow myself to be abused by
anyone,'' the presiding judge said.
''Nor will I,'' Tapie shot back, drawing another caution.
When the first of the accused, former Valenciennes defender Christophe
Robert, told the court how he was offered cash by Eydelie, Tapie again
stood up to interrupt the proceedings.
''Even since you entered this courtroom, you have tried to sow
disruption,'' the judge told him. ''If that is your method of defence, I
will not accept it.'' Tapie subsided when the judge added: ''I envisage
expelling you.''
One of several corruption scandals to come to court in the midst of a
presidential election campaign, the trial, expected to last 10 days has
aroused almost as much interest in France as the O J Simpson murder case
in the United States.
The case hinges on whether the prosecution can prove that Bernes acted
on Tapie's orders in bribing the Valenciennes players.--Reuter.
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