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Paris - French Top 14 club Montpellier have had their €400,000 fine for salary cap infringements removed by the French Rugby Federation's appeals commission, according to documents seen by AFP on Thursday.
However the commission increased a previous €50,000 fine handed down by the National Rugby League (LNR) to €100,000 for "breaches of transparency obligations".
Montpellier were originally fined for exceeding the cap, at €11.3 million, by paying players an additional €428,000 during the 2017-18 season when they finished second.
The salaries that had attracted suspicion included those of South African brothers Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis for that season.
A furious Montpellier club president Mohed Altrad told AFP in early October they were victims of a "Stalinist system" where the league sets the players' prices.
Altrad is currently running in the Montpellier municipal elections where he could emerge as mayor in March 2020.
A year ago the club were also cleared by the federation when they were accused of violating the cap in the 2016-17 season.
On Monday, English side Saracens were docked 35 points and fined £5 million by Premiership Rugby for breaching domestic salary cap rules over the past three seasons.
