Rugby / Mondial-2023: new investigation against Atcher, finances under the magnifying glass

This investigation for "moral harassment" was revealed by the newspaper l'Equipe on Thursday, which had already detailed in June by the menu the "management by terror" of the director general of the public interest group (GIP) to organize the competition (Sept 8-Oct 28).

Seized by the executive, the Labor inspectorate issued its report and the preliminary investigation for "moral harassment" was opened on November 29, 2022 after a report from the Regional and Interdepartmental Directorate for the Economy, Employment , Labor and Solidarity (Drieets) and entrusted to the Brigade for the Suppression of Personal Crime (BRDP), said the prosecution on Thursday.

Claude Atcher, a figure in the world of French rugby, was first laid off as a precaution at the end of the summer of 2022, following a report by the GIP ethics committee, then landed in October.

In response to these accusations, his lawyers had informed AFP at the end of November that Claude Atcher considered himself the victim of "judicial and media harassment" and that he was seizing the industrial tribunal about the breach of his contract. .

Investigations pile up

Investigations, first administrative and now judicial, are piling up.

In a press release sent to AFP on Thursday, he "welcomed the opening of investigations" which will allow him to "restore a semblance of balance" complaining in particular of not having been received by the inspection of the Work despite "repeated requests".

Claude Atcher is also the target of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office for favouritism, influence peddling, corruption following a joint report by the General Inspectorate of Finance and the General Inspectorate of Education.

In the viewfinder: "past markets", "ticketing" and "vehicles made available" by Claude Atcher.

Several sources had also told AFP in recent months that there was a "concern" about the Campus 2023 program, a flagship learning program put forward by the organizers.

According to the finance inspection report quoted by the L'Equipe survey on Thursday, first this program will be "in deficit" and then the mission "cannot exclude" that "the initial financial arrangement of the operation could have led to embezzlement".

The former boss of the 2023 Rugby World Cup organizing committee Claude Atcher in the corridors of the Paris Criminal Court on December 13.

© Alain JOCARD / AFP

The GIP, in which the French Rugby Federation (FFR) has a majority of more than 60% and the minority state, said Thursday that it intends to "secure the organization of the tournament".

Financial audit

To clarify the accounts, he also announced that he was launching "a complete financial and accounting audit mission by the spring to ensure the compliance of all the accounting and financial operations of the entities of the committee of organization since their creation to their obligations and commitments".

In his reaction on Thursday, Claude Atcher assured that the accounts of the GIP have never been disputed and "were approved in March 2022 within the framework of a board of directors chaired by Jacques Rivoal (president of the GIP, editor's note) and attended by representatives of the State".

The GIP will present on February 2 "an updated budget" and assured AFP that the event would "deliver a positive result at the level of that of the best World Cups".

In reality, difficult to know where the accounts are.

In the event of a financial disaster, the State has guaranteed up to “162.45 million euros” according to the 2019 Finance Law.

From the point of view of the organization itself, several sources have reported "delay" with AFP also due to the tension of the professions in the sporting events and this while the GIP was in full social malaise. ..

"Atcher has done marketing, sponsorship, ticketing very well, but he has done nothing at the operational level," one of these sources told AFP, which is currently leading the GIP to recruit.

For Claude Atcher, since his departure "the increasing privatization of the event through the use of private companies raises questions about the correlative drop in the expected forecast result which cannot be attributed to him", he writes via his lawyers.

For his part, the entourage of the Ministry of Sports explained to AFP "to follow the situation closely and has confidence in the professionalism of the new team".

“We remain vigilant, in conjunction with the FFR and World Rugby, and very attentive to respecting operational deadlines until the delivery of the event,” added the same source.

© 2023 AFP