The lawyers of the president of the French Football Federation Noël Le Graët, pinned down by the provisional conclusions of an audit mission on the FFF, denounced Thursday a “report that looks like an indictment”, assuring in a press release that the leader “ will firmly defend his honor”. “The virulence of the words used with regard to Mr. Le Graët is surprising in view of the emptiness of its factual basis, which is based on truncated and anonymous elements and testimonies”, assure AFP Mes Florence Bourg and Thierry Marembert, lawyers for Le Graët, withdrawn since January 11.
The latter, 81 years old and in office since 2011, has not yet reacted personally to the preliminary report of the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR), commissioned by the Ministry of Sports. and forwarded Monday to the parties.
“This indictment-like report nevertheless salutes the work accomplished by Mr. le Graët, his historic commitment to the service of French football, and in particular women’s football”, write the advice of the boss of the FFF, “re-elected in March 2021 at 73% votes”.
The lawyers claim that the former mayor of Guingamp feels a “deep sense of injustice” in the face of this audit mission, which they believe is subject to “political and media pressure which could only skew it”, and which takes the form of a “legitimacy trial”.
In their interim report, of which AFP obtained a copy, the inspectors considered that Le Graët no longer had “the necessary legitimacy to administer” the FFF given “his behavior towards women, his public statements and the failures of governance” internally.
The mission also collected testimonies relating to the actions of the Breton leader “likely to receive a criminal qualification”. Noël Le Graët now has until February 13 to comment on the partial report sent to him.
