The Paris prosecutor’s office “informed us that it had closed the investigation opened against Mr Noël Le Graët“, announced Thierry Marembert, one of Noël Le Graët’s lawyers, on Sunday evening.
Published on 04/11/2024 06:23 Updated on 04/11/2024 06:28
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Noël Le Graët, former president of the French Football Federation, in Rotherham (United Kingdom), July 10, 2022. (FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
End of the procedure, almost two years after the opening of the investigation. The investigation into “moral and sexual harassment” targeting Noël Le Graët, the former president of the French Football Federation (FFF) has been closed. This was announced on Radio France by Thierry Marembert, one of Noël Le Graët’s lawyers, on Sunday November 3. He said he had information from the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirming information from Monde and of The Team. “We welcome this decision – Mr. Le Graët, his other lawyer and myself – because it restores and demonstrates his complete probity”declared Thierry Marembert.
Noël Le Graët was the subject of a preliminary investigation after a report from IGESR inspectors (the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research), entrusted to police officers from the Personal Crime Suppression Brigade . The prosecution therefore took the decision to dismiss it on October 17, said Thierry Marembert.
This investigation was closed without further action because no offense appears sufficiently serious. “This is the interest of having a contradictory and thorough procedure, which made it possible to deny all the hasty accusations which had been brought against him”reacts the lawyer of the former boss of French football. According to him, the comments made by his client, “when we put them in context”are “given their true value, sometimes as jokes but never constituting the slightest criminal offense”.
This legal procedure led Noël Le Graët to resign from his position as president of the FFF, in February 2023, after 11 years in office. “The report that was made obviously had professional consequences for him, but also disrupted his family life and his personal life because these are serious accusations”insists Thierry Marembert. This decision by the Paris prosecutor’s office is “a relief”he continues. “He knew that he had nothing to reproach himself for but for the justice system to recognize him is obviously extremely important for him and indirectly also for his family”concludes Noël Le Graët’s lawyer.
