Last month, Elsom (41) was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in a French court for alleged misuse of corporate funds.
He was convicted in absentia and an international warrant was issued for his arrest.
The charges are linked to his time as president of the Narbonne Mediterranean Racing Club.
Elsom – who won 75 caps for Australia – had continued to live in Ireland in the weeks following his conviction in France.
However, the ex-Leinster star has revealed he has now fled the country after gardaí called to his workplace looking for him.
“The gardaí came to where I worked, came to my home, with the intention of taking me into custody,” Elsom told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“All I can say is I spoke to the gardaí and they said if I’m in Ireland they’ll have to bring me in.
“The important thing to remember is if I am in custody, my defence gets a lot more expensive and a lot harder.”
During his interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Elsom refused to confirm where he was now living and claimed he was laying low while he engages a French lawyer to oppose the finding.
“I’ll have to go outside at some point but I am keeping my head down, that’s for sure,” he said.
“I’ve just got to try and normalise it to a degree – be able to get enough sunlight or do some exercise.
“Because this is month one. In a way, the attack on me has been going on for eight years so you wouldn’t put it past them to be going on for months and months.”
Elsom was accused of a range of offences in a French court.
They include backdating a club doctor’s contract and having a payment from beer giant Heineken illegally transferred to a company in his name.
It was also claimed he agreed to salary advances for players.
Elsom was found guilty of forgery and ordered to repay €705,000 ($1.1million) from his time at the club between 2015 and 2016.
He has denied any wrongdoing
Elsom has now blasted French law officials for putting him on trial and claimed that he did not get a chance to defend himself.
“Not informing me, not allowing me to be there, running a rumour campaign for eight years … the most concerning thing is thinking that it was intentional.”
He added: “That it was intentionally done to make things harder for me,” he said.
Elsom had a glittering rugby career which spanned from 2005 to 2011.
He played 21 times for Leinster across 2008 and 2009, where he won a Player of the Year award, as well as representing clubs Toulon and Narbonne in France.
He also landed a European Player of the Year award in 2009, as he helped Leinster to land the Heineken Cup that year.
Soon after, he made the decision to return to Australia to continue his playing career despite Leinster’s best efforts to keep him.
“I already liked Dublin before playing for Leinster and obviously enjoyed rugby”, he said
“I didn’t expect to like it as much as I have done but ultimately I’m Australian and I want to play for Australia. You don’t always have the opportunity to do that but I do now so I want to take advantage of it,” Elsom said on his departure from Leinster
