Troubles are piling up for the Minister of Education.

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra's salary as general director of the French Tennis Federation (FFT) is part of the remuneration deemed "abnormal" by a parliamentary commission of inquiry into sports federations, the results of which will be published on Tuesday January 23.  

Six months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, this report, written by environmentalist MP Sabrina Sebaihi, paints a vitriolic portrait of the functioning of sports federations, in line with heated hearings in the Assembly.

The Paris prosecutor's office had already opened several investigations following reports from the commission on possible "false testimony" from sports leaders before parliamentarians.

During a three-hour hearing in November, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who is currently in turmoil as Minister of Education, indicated that she had earned 500,000 euros gross for more than a year on 13 months including a target bonus of 100,000 euros.

She then clarified that her remuneration was “very close to that of her predecessor”.

In its report, the commission of inquiry notes that she "minimized by 86,000 euros" her salary since that of Jean-François Villotte, who preceded her in this position, received 373,750 euros gross annually with a bonus of 37,375 euros.

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The report also includes a request from the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) – not public until now –, dating from February 2022, before the arrival of Amélie Oudéa- Castéra to the FFT, to “reconsider” the ten highest remunerations, “benefits in kind”, and considers “considerable – even abnormal – taking into account the associative status of the organization (...)” the remuneration of the general director of the time.

These amounts caused reactions during the minister's long hearing.

“Understand that we can wonder at the level of amateur sport that a federation leader receives 500,000 euros per year while I see in my city of Toulouse that we have lots of clubs which are bloodless”, tackled the LFI deputy François Piquemal.

A contested justification

“I understand very well that 500,000 euros may seem high compared to the living standards of the French,” she retorted.

Another complaint against the minister is that she justified her salary at the FFT by the wealth of this federation which, she said during the hearing, did not receive public money.

She corrected it very quickly after the hearing by explaining that the FFT had received 1.2 million in 2022 – in reality 1.45 million according to parliamentarians.

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The report also "is surprised" that the Minister of Sports "was able to appoint to the national committee, to strengthen ethics and democratic life in sport, in March 2023, Franck Latty, president of the ethics committee of the French Tennis Federation.

This committee “may be required to rule on the management of the former director” and “a decree of August 4, 2022 rightly intended to sever all links between the Minister of Sports and her former federation”.

Furthermore, the current president of the FFT, Gilles Moretton, interviewed by the commission, is the target of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office, like six other French sports leaders suspected of having given false testimony.

With AFP

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