Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal has been fined €75,000 and his club handed a suspended five-point deduction.

The punishments, announced by European Professional Club Rugby, follow an independent disciplinary committee hearing into misconduct complaints against Boudjellal and Toulon that was held in London earlier this month.

EPCR said Boudjellal "made comments that (among other things) allegedly condoned homophobic conduct, discriminated against and insulted various groups, and brought the game of rugby into disrepute by attacking, disparaging and criticising EPCR" following a Champions Cup game against Italian side Benetton last season.

Boudjellal's comments were made to the media during January and February.

His remarks included him staunchly defending Toulon star Mathieu Bastareaud [below], who was cited following the Benetton match and banned for three weeks after admitting verbally abusing a Benetton player.

Boudjellal must pay a fine of €75,000 immediately, with a further €25,000 suspended for three years for any similar offending or misconduct in any rugby jurisdiction.

Three-time European champions Toulon, meanwhile, have received a deduction of five match points, suspended for three seasons, that applies to any EPCR-run tournament.

The points deduction will be activated "for any similar offending or misconduct by the club or any of its representatives in any rugby jurisdiction", EPCR said.

EPCR added in its statement: "EPCR brought misconduct complaints in respect of those comments against Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon (the complaints against RC Toulon were based on its overall responsibility for the actions of Mr Boudjellal and its failure to control those actions).

"The independent disciplinary committee upheld the complaints against Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon in their entirety, ruling (among other things) that Mr Boudjellal's comments discriminated against and insulted a number of different groups and that they brought the game of rugby into disrepute.

"The independent disciplinary committee considered the misconduct to have been very serious and determined that both Mr Boudjellal and RC Toulon should receive a significant sanction.

"The committee also concluded that there were several aggravating factors, including poor disciplinary records and poor conduct during the disciplinary process, and that these increased the severity of the sanctions imposed.

"That poor conduct included ignoring directions made by the independent disciplinary committee and responding derisively to requests from the committee for information."

In its written decision, the disciplinary committee said: "We had a responsibility to pass a sanction which properly marks rugby's disapproval of the use, or condoning of the use, of any remark which is discriminatory or insulting.

"Such remarks only undermine the confidence and the desire of the majority of those involved in rugby to promote an entirely inclusive and diverse game.

"We considered this case to be a very serious example of offending of this type."