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Accused by the resigning president of the French Football Federation, Noël Le Graët, of having “lied” on the accusations of sexual harassment targeting him, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra assured Wednesday that she had “never called him a stalker “. “This defense strategy does not fool many people,” she added.
The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra affirmed, Wednesday 1is march on RTL, that she had “never accused of harassment” the resigning president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët who intends to file a defamation complaint against her.
“I find it distressing, I never insulted anyone, I remained polite, I never accused him of harassment”, she replied, recalling that a preliminary investigation had been opened for acts of moral and sexual harassment against the president of the FFF.
“We did an in-depth work over four months, respecting the contradictions of each of the parties. […]”, she said, and “I will not allow the quality of the work that has been done to be denigrated”, she added while the lawyers of Noël Le Graët wish to challenge the report of the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) which was delivered in mid-February.
“It is the prosecutor who has decided sovereignly to open an investigation for acts of moral and sexual harassment [sur la base de ce rapport d’inspection]“, she recalled.
The Minister reiterated on RTL what she had declared at a press conference: “The mission [d’inspection] evokes remarks and SMS emanating from Noël Le Graët, ambiguous for some and clearly sexual in nature for others”.
“I never called him a stalker,” she insisted. “This defense strategy does not fool many people […]“, she added while the president of the FFF claims to be the victim of a “well-organized political and media cabal”.
Asked if she called him on Tuesday morning as he said in interviews and the conversation fell short, she called the conversation “very short”, but “in practice it’s is he who called me”.
The report, delivered on February 15, but never published in its full version, pinpointed the management of the 81-year-old leader, who “no longer has the necessary legitimacy to administer and represent French football”, according to the inspectors.
According to the Breton leader’s lawyer, the IGESR inspectors “were manipulated, forced by their minister”.
With AFP
