The former general director of the Rugby World Cup files a complaint for witness tampering and for violation of the secrecy of the investigation and breach of trust.
Claude Atcher, former general director of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, filed a complaint in Paris to denounce the conditions in which he was dismissed in October 2022, AFP learned on Tuesday from a source close to the matter. Mr. Atcher filed two separate complaints against Chained duck.
The Atcher affair began in June 2022 following an article in the sports daily The Team revealing anonymous testimonies reporting a “working climate (…) extremely degraded» within the Public Interest Group (GIP) France 2023, with a “deep social malaise» among the staff. This would include professional exhaustion (burn-outs), resignations and anxiety attacks under the influence of a “management by terror» exercised by Claude Atcher and his chief of staff. The Ministry of Sports immediately decided to refer the matter to the labor inspectorate.elements of concern».
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Judicial and media relentlessness
On August 29, this ministry announced the layoff “as a precaution» by Claude Atcher during the time necessary for the conclusion of the Labor Inspectorate’s investigation. On October 11, less than a year before the start of the World Cup, currently in progress, Claude Atcher, officially dismissed from his position, denounced a “judicial and media relentlessness».
His lawyers, Mes Emmanuel Moyne and Geoffroy Goubin, did not wish to comment on this filing of the complaint on Tuesday. According to Le Canard chainé, the complaints target in particular “the intense communication campaign» which would have been carried out against him by the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castera, but also the conditions in which the testimonies about him were collected. When asked, the minister’s entourage did not wish to comment and the GIP did not react immediately.
Mr. Atcher will contest the termination of his contract with the GIP before the Paris industrial tribunal on October 31. These revelations gave rise to two openings of preliminary investigations in Paris, one for influence peddling and corruption concerning “past markets», «Ticketing» et «the vehicles made available» from Mr. Atcher, the other for “moral harassment».
