There is no doubt that the date of February 15 had been circled in red, in their diary, by the leaders of the French Football Federation (FFF). At the end of five months of investigation, the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) will simultaneously send, on Wednesday, its final audit report to Noël Le Graët, retired president of the FFF. , to Philippe Diallo, interim boss of the body, to Florence Hardouin, general manager laid off as a precaution, and to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the sports minister. The latter should hold a press conference during the day.
The submission of this inspection report could create new turmoil at the Paris headquarters of the FFF, in the 15e arrondissement, where its executive committee is to meet on Friday, February 17, around Noël Le Graët, to decide on the future at the head of the “3F” of… Noël Le Graët.
Monday, February 13, the lawyers of the boss of the federation, Florence Bourg and Thierry Marembert, asked, in vain, the IGESR to postpone the delivery of the final report, insofar as new hearings were carried out by the three inspectors since January 30 and the sending to the parties of the provisional audit report.
The world took note of the “observations” sent on Monday by the defense of Mr. Le Graët to the inspection mission commissioned by Mr.me Oudea-Castera. While the patriarch of French football, 81, has been targeted since January 16 by a preliminary investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office for “sexual and moral harassment” following a report issued by the IGESR under the terms of the Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Mes Bourg and Marembert denounce a “political and media interference in the investigation process which seriously undermines the essential principles of independence and impartiality”, susceptible to “bias the objectivity of the inspectors”.
“Stalinist trial”
They are indignant that Mme Oudéa-Castéra received a progress report from the IGESR on December 6, 2022, as well as the interim report on January 30. “Mr. Le Graët should not be fired (…) he must recognize his faults, without knowing which ones precisely, and start from himself. This is the very definition of the Stalinist trialassert his lawyers. It is extravagant that officials of a government of the French Republic act in the same way as Soviet prosecutors. »
The date of January 9 holds the attention of Mr.es Bourg and Marembert. That day, when “NLG” has just apologized after its devastating outing on Zinédine Zidane, Mme Oudéa-Castéra holds a press conference, according to the lawyers, « in the form of an indictment (…) while the audit mission was still in progress » : « Nor could the inspectors be told the meaning of their future conclusions. »
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