Marseille trial starts with problems

Olympique Marseille main shareholder Robert Louis-Dreyfus decided to appear before the city's court on embezzlement and bribery charges yesterday despite not being properly cited by French justice.

"Those who have not been correctly cited may decide not to appear and be judged by default," said court president Vincent Turbeaux at the trial opening.

Jean-Francois Larios, a former French international turned players' agent, decided not to appear.

Louis-Dreyfus, who injected around 170 million euros of his personal fortune into the club to help the former European champions avoid bankruptcy between 1997 and 2000, also had not been correctly cited.

"He does not want to let people think he is avoiding the trial and has decided to stay," said one of his four lawyers, Jean Weil.

Fourteen people, including former coach Rolland Courbis, have been cited on embezzlement and bribery charges.

The trial, expected to last until March 31, will try to establish if Louis-Dreyfus, Courbis and several other former club officials were guilty of illegal payments in the transfers of 15 players between 1997 and 1999.

The transfers of former French international defender Laurent Blanc, who joined Marseille from Barcelona in 1997, and striker Christophe Dugarry, who moved in the opposite direction the same year, will come under the microscope.

After a six-year investigation, the court will also try to shed light on the signing of midfielder Claude Makelele by Real Madrid and the arrival at Marseille of Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli from Middlesbrough in September 1997.