The organizing committee for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, whose general manager, Claude Atcher, is suspected of being at the origin of a "deep social malaise" experienced by the employees of the body, pitches to a little over a year from the start of the World Cup in France.
The spokesman for the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt confirmed on Tuesday that the investigation by the Labor Inspectorate at the headquarters of France 2023 had "begun" but that there was no "return at this stage".
When contacted, France 2023 was not in a position at the start of the afternoon to comment on this information.
The "rumor" Jean Castex to replace Claude Atcher
The Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, at the origin of the referral to the labor inspectorate as soon as the investigation of the sports daily came out, reiterated her concern on Sunday at the microphone of RTL.
She claimed to have “asked that the conclusions (to her) be communicated quickly”.
The Minister also qualified as a “rumor” the possible replacement of Atcher by former Prime Minister Jean Castex.
In a long article published last Wednesday, the newspaper L'Équipe, in great detail, recounted the "management by terror" put in place by Atcher and his chief of staff within the Public Interest Group (GIP) France 2023 , where burn-out, resignations and anxiety attacks mingle.
It is in this context that the French Rugby Federation (FFR), a 62% shareholder of the GIP alongside the State (37%) and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF, 1%), will ultimately meet week in Marseille its annual congress.
Atcher defends “paternalistic” management
The XV of France, on tour in Japan, will still be scrapping with the Brave Blossoms in Aichi when an extraordinary general meeting, with on the agenda, a "modification of the statutes and internal regulations of the FFR", will open on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at Parc Chanot, in the presence of President Bernard Laporte.
It will be followed at 10 a.m. by an ordinary GA, during which the moral report of the FFR, the provisional budget for 2022-2023 and, above all, a “France 2023 progress report” will be presented.
Will Atcher be there?
Since the publication of the L'Équipe survey, the director general of France 2023 has been discreet.
He was notably absent from the stands of the Stade de France on Friday evening, for the final of the Top 14 between Castres and Montpellier.
On Monday, he told Les Echos that he was "satisfied that the labor inspectorate is coming to investigate" and that he "will reserve his comments on the cases mentioned", acknowledging "paternalistic managerial management".
Read also“He knows how to work, but …”: Claude Atcher, route of the sulphurous boss of the 2023 Rugby World Cup
In the wake of the referral to the Labor Inspectorate, the FFR convened the Economic and Social Committee (CSE) of France 2023 last Thursday, at the end of which it was decided to set up a toll-free number "in order to guarantee reporting anonymously", as well as a "social audit".
Member of the steering committee of the FFR and president of the Ligue d'Île-de-France, Florian Grill described as "sordid" the management exercised by Atcher vis-à-vis its employees.
“What shocks me the most and worries me is that all the witnesses do it with their faces hidden.
We are no longer in the anecdotal, it is a system, estimated the elected opposition.
Not to mention that it is not without consequence on the image of rugby in France and internationally.
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A trial in September with Bernard Laporte and Mohed Altrad
World Rugby, the governing body of world rugby, thus officially expressed its “concerns” last Thursday to the board of directors of France 2023 and the FFR.
In Les Échos, Atcher felt that a “cabal” was aimed at “putting him out of the game”.
Regarding suspicions of favoritism around the sponsorship of the XV of France, he will appear in September, with the president of Montpellier Mohed Altrad, whose group is jersey sponsor of the XV of France, and Bernard Laporte.
They will be tried before the Paris Criminal Court for "concealment of breach of trust", "abuse of corporate assets" and "concealed work by concealment of activity".
Justice suspects him of having benefited in particular, between 2017 and 2018 via non-existent services paid to his company Score XV, of around 80,000 euros that Laporte would have diverted to the detriment of the FFR.
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