The procedure was dismissed on October 17 for insufficiently serious infringement.
The investigation into moral and sexual harassment which targeted the former president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët was closed without further action, we learned on Sunday from a source close to the matter, confirming information from the Monde and of The Team.
“I welcome this decision which recognizes the integrity of my client. The in-depth criminal investigation was able to verify that none of the accusations that had been hastily brought against him held water.reacted his lawyer Thierry Marembert, contacted by AFP. According to the source close to the case, the procedure was closed on October 17, for insufficiently serious offense.
After 11 years of reign, Mr. Le Graët left the head of the FFF at the end of February 2023 after several stormy months, weakened by clumsy statements about the icon Zinédine Zidane and by testimonies from women attributing inappropriate behavior to him. Two weeks earlier, an audit report established by the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) and commissioned by the Ministry of Sports had been revealed.
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Inappropriate behavior
A summary made public by the executive set out “behavior deviations (…) incompatible with the exercise of functions and the requirement of exemplarity attached to it”. He also pointed out “inappropriate public positions”, “inappropriate behavior (…) towards women” particularly through “SMS ambiguous for some and of a clearly sexual nature for others”.
In mid-January 2023, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into moral and sexual harassment after a report from IGESR inspectors, entrusted to police officers from the Personal Crime Suppression Brigade. The former general director of the FFF Florence Hardouin, heard during the investigation, first filed a complaint against him before finally reaching a settlement agreement with the FFF and committing not to become a civil party. if a trial against Mr. Le Graët had taken place.
A few hours after his departure from the FFF, Me Marembert announced a defamation complaint against Amélie Oudéa-Castera, then Minister of Sports, accusing him of having “save” on the IGESR report. He highlighted a difference between the summary of the document, published on February 15, 2023, and its entirety. She will be tried for defamation by the Court of Justice of the Republic on December 3 and 4.
