"Claude Atcher is the target of judicial and media harassment which has continued to grow since June", explain the advice of the former boss of GIP France 2023, always adding to question his " motivation".
"We call on the judiciary to be extremely vigilant in the face of this case, which disregards the most basic rights of defense and jeopardizes the reputation of a man in the absence of evidence," the statement continued.
Counsel for Claude Atcher believe that he was "the victim of an abusive termination of his employment contract notified on October 10, for an alleged reason of + moral harassment +", a break that occurred "at the end of a sham procedure and a labor inspection report commissioned by the Minister of Sports", Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
Claude Atcher, 66, specifies this press release, seized "the Labor Court to challenge both the procedure and the reason for the termination of his employment contract and obtain the respect by the GIP of its legal and contractual rights".
The Atcher affair began in June following an article in the sports daily L'Equipe revealing through anonymous testimonies the existence of an "extremely degraded work climate (...)" within France- 2023, with a "deep social malaise" among the staff, where burn-outs, resignations and anxiety attacks mingle under the influence of "management by terror" exercised by Claude Atcher and his chief of staff.
Claude Atcher at the opening of his trial alongside Bernard Laporte and Mohed Altrad, September 7, 2022 in Paris - AFP/Archives
The Ministry of Sports had immediately decided to seize the labor inspectorate on "worrying elements".
On August 29, the Ministry of Sports announced the layoff "as a precaution" of Claude Atcher for the time necessary for the closure of the investigation by the Labor Inspectorate.
On October 11, less than a year before the start of the 2023 World Cup, he was finally officially dismissed from his post.
In addition to the moral harassment component, following other articles in L'Equipe, the National Financial Prosecutor's Office opened a preliminary investigation at the beginning of November targeting the organizing committee for favouritism, influence peddling, corruption and any other offense related to following a joint report from the General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Education.
The General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Education are looking at "past contracts", "ticketing" and "vehicles made available" by Claude Atcher.
© 2022 AFP