Olympique Marseille, the only French club tohave won the European Champions Cup, are facing a new outbreak of scandal claims.

This follows the arrest yesterday of Jean-Michel Roussier who was chief executive of the club between the summer of 1995 and April 1999.

Ironcially Roussier had been appointed to clean up the club after the match-fixing scandal which brought about the downfall of previous president Bernard Tapie and various of his officials and players.

Roussier is suspected of direct involvement in arranging under-the-counter payments in transfer dealings. He was ‘fingered’ by Rolland Courbis, former Marseille coach, who is currently under suspension for his own role in transfer manipulation.

The judicial inquiry under examining magistrate Franck Landou is concentrating on deals involving players Robert Pires and Ibrahima Bakayoko as well as agents Gilbert Sau and Jean-Francois Larios.
By Keir Radnedge