“Presidents had not prepared”… Mixed results at the end of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into sport

2023-11-23 23:44:28

90 auditions, but for what? It is time to take stock of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the dysfunctions of sports federations. This Thursday marked the end of the hearings after in particular that of the former president of the French Rugby Federation Bernard Laporte, the former Minister of Sports Marie-George Buffet and the Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti.

Sabrina Sebaihi, EELV deputy and rapporteur of the commission of inquiry, wanted to take stock of our colleagues from RMC Sport. “There are a lot of things to remember. The aim of our commission of inquiry was to identify dysfunctions within the sports movement. Yes, we realize that there are some, it was obvious,” warns the Europe-Ecologie-Les-Verts MP. The National Assembly’s commission of inquiry must now issue recommendations to the Ministry of Sports on December 19.

“See where there have been lies”

Among the 90 personalities interviewed by the commission, we find the Blues coach Didier Deschamps, the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and the former president of the FFF Noël Le Graët. But what struck the rapporteur of the commission of inquiry was the lack of preparation of those interviewed. “We have had presidents who had absolutely no preparation for their hearings. Either they consider themselves unaccountable, or they have never been accountable. In both cases, it’s quite problematic,” she criticizes. Sabrina Sebaihi pointed out the first hearing of the French Athletics Federation with that of its president André Giraud.

“We are really going to make reports”

To go further, the deputy wishes to sanction certain interviewees for perjury for the false statements they made. “We will wait to have the written reports of the hearings in the coming days and we will do painstaking work to verify the statements of the people interviewed in order to see where there have been lies. And I think that for now with the president we are really going to make reports. There must be awareness, we must make an impression. We do not come before the Commission of Inquiry and say to ourselves that ultimately it is just a formality, it is not a formality,” she warned. Those mainly concerned should watch out.