Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra said on Wednesday 1is mars on RTL that she didn’t have “never accused of harassment” the resigning president of the French Football Federation (FFF), Noël Le Graët, who intends to file a defamation suit against her, accusing the minister of having “save” on charges of sexual harassment against him.
“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. “This defense strategy does not fool many people”she continues. “I think we’ve done a very thorough job and I won’t allow the work that has been done to be denigrated,” reacted the Minister of Sports.
As soon as his resignation was announced, Noël Le Graët launched his counter-attack on the judicial field, claiming to be the victim of a “well-organized political-media cabal”. The resigning president of the FFF will file an appeal before the administrative court to contest the audit report of the general inspection of education, sport and research (Igesr) and a criminal complaint for defamation against the Minister of sports with the Court of Justice of the Republic.
“It is the prosecutor who has decided sovereignly to open an investigation for acts of moral and sexual harassment” on the basis of this inspection report, reminded Mrme Oudéa-Castéra, while the lawyers of Noël Le Graët wish to contest the document which was returned in mid-February.
“Ambiguous SMS for some and clearly sexual in nature for others”
The minister repeated on RTL what she had said at a press conference: ” The mission [d’inspection] evokes remarks and text messages from Mr. Le Graët, ambiguous for some and of a clearly sexual nature for others”. “I never called him a stalker”she insisted.
Asked if she had called him on Tuesday morning as he said in interviews and the conversation had died out, she called the conversation a ” very short “ more “in practice it was he who called me”.
The report, delivered on February 15 but never published in its entirety, 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. The Breton leader’s lawyer claims that the Igesr inspectors “were manipulated, forced by their minister”.
Players’ agent Sonia Souid, accuser of the former president of the FFF, defended herself on Wednesday for having been “remote control” in his speech, estimating to Agence France-Presse that he had “felt a form of harassment” from the leader. “Hearing that my testimony was a “set up”, It hurts me a lot. What do I have to gain from the story? Other than risking my career, my reputation? Talking about a subject that bruised me, that affected my dignity, it was only pain and suffering ”explains the 37-year-old agent the day after the resignation of the 81-year-old entrepreneur.
His hearing by the inspectors led them to file a report for sexist contempt, and an investigation for moral and sexual harassment was opened on January 16. On Tuesday, Noël Le Graët swept aside the agent’s accusations with the Monde and of The teamtaxing her with “miraculous witness” and believing that she had “nothing to do in this audit”.