Tearful Maka: I tried to help him

Finau Maka. Photo / Getty Images

PARIS - Tongan rugby player Finau Maka battled tears yesterday as he insisted allegations of "modern slavery" were false and he had only sought to help a poor man in difficulty.

Six days after he was arrested and questioned by French police in Toulouse, Maka said he was dismayed at suggestions he had coerced or abused a Tunisian man who lived on his property for four years.

"He was homeless, he begged me to help him," Maka said in an emotional statement.

"He had no family in France, no money, no shelter ... as a Tongan it is a part of our culture to care and help people in need."

The Toulouse judiciary started the probe in response to accusations by a 32-year-old illegal immigrant, identified in the press only as "Moucef".

"He [Maka] can say what he wants," Eric Zerbib, a lawyer representing "Moucef", said.

"But nothing explains why he housed someone in a small hut at the bottom of the garden without running water or electricity, nothing explains why he used the services of someone without paying them for four years, or paying only €2000 [$3600], nothing explains his behaviour in giving this man only a sandwich a day and the fact that he used him from 7 in the morning to 10 at night."

In an interview with the local daily La Depeche at the weekend, "Moucef" said he arrived in France in 2005, paying a smuggler to help him enter the country via Libya and Italy.

He eventually found work at Maka's home, where he was hired to do decoration and other jobs, and lived in a brick hut at the bottom of the garden.

He said Maka sent his mother €2800 but otherwise never made good on promises of payment.

"I was Finau's slave for four years," "Moucef" alleged. "I want to get my money and see my family in Tunisia."

This version of events was bitterly denied by Maka, who referred to "Moucef" by the name of Anis.

"For the first four months he lived in our house. He was allocated a bedroom on the bottom floor," Maka said.

"We asked him to leave. He wanted to remain in our residence. At the back of our house there is a pool house, and Anis asked to sleep there instead of leaving."

As for the job, "he performed some work including paintings, wallpapering, changing window panes", said Maka.

"It was not specialised work, it was help. No one forced him to work against his will. Our relationship was mutual aid ... Anis was free to come and go when he pleased."

"Anis" asked for more and more money and "his behaviour became rather intolerant," said Maka.

"In February we asked him nicely to leave because we would be moving out of our house. He left, but called every day for help and to come back.

"In April, he threatened to go to court."

Zerbib said the complaint was filed with the public prosecutor on April 28, but the investigation was started after the final of the Heineken Cup, on May 22.