The report about the 2014-2022 FFSG administration for the Sports Ministry is out.
The mission of general inspection has alerted the Procureur Général (general attorney) about some wrongdoings from the Gailhaguet era, ie "people" (ie Gailhaguet and Co) could be sued.
It also notes the invasive nature of Gailhaguet's influence within the FFSG and the will to have stand-ins. And that the current presidency had "a change of heart" which may turn into further troubles within the federation.
The summary of the report has been published.
It is a long summary so if you have the patience, here it is, google translated (with some corrections, I didn't modify the administrative language though) :
The mission of general inspection has alerted the Procureur Général (general attorney) about some wrongdoings from the Gailhaguet era, ie "people" (ie Gailhaguet and Co) could be sued.
It also notes the invasive nature of Gailhaguet's influence within the FFSG and the will to have stand-ins. And that the current presidency had "a change of heart" which may turn into further troubles within the federation.
The summary of the report has been published.
It is a long summary so if you have the patience, here it is, google translated (with some corrections, I didn't modify the administrative language though) :
Summary of the report of June 2, 2023 on the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG)
A mission by the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGÉSR), launched by the Minister for Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games on October 6, 2022, took place within the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) in the context of several reports brought to the attention of the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (MSJOP), relating to suspicions of interference by unelected individuals, most of whom are former leaders, as well as breaches of budgetary and accounting rules.
Carried out in accordance with the control framework for registered sports federations, this mission follows an initial report by the IGESR submitted in July 2020 (1) which focused on the examination of the conditions under which the FFSG had dealt, in previous years, with the facts of sexist and sexual violence, particularly revealed by former high-level skaters, including Ms. Sarah Abitbol. This mission is also part of the context of the change in governance following the federal elections of June 25, 2022.
In this particular context, and in order to also evaluate the follow-up of the recommendations made during the previous controls (2), the mission considered it important that this should cover the three past and current Olympiads (i.e. since 2014), corresponding : :
- to the last mandates of Mr. Didier Gailhaguet (2014 – February 8, 2020), president of the federation between 1998 and 2004, then from 2007 to 2020,
- to the mandate of Mrs Nathalie Péchalat (March 14, 2020 – June 22, 2022),
- to the mandate of Mrs Gwenaëlle Noury (since June 22, 2022).
At the end of its investigations which led to carry out more than 130 hearings, to carry out numerous controls on parts at the federation's headquarters and to travel to different territories, meeting with leaders of affiliated clubs (3), of the structure "Relève" (ie NexGen) at the CREPS in Reims or during the Elites 2022 championship in Rouen, the mission submitted a preliminary report to the observations of the current president of the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG), Mrs. Noury, and her two predecessors Ms. Péchalat and Mr. Gailhaguet, as part of the contradictory phase usually carried out in this type of mission. Their observations were taken into account by the mission whenever they were justified, thus allowing the delivery of the final report to the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games and to the interested parties for the part that concerns them.
A federal operating that has experienced a succession of crises and marked by the omnipresence of former leaders to the detriment of the establishment of a new governance.
If the mission concentrated its investigations on the last three Olympiads (that is, since the 2014 financial year), it was able to observe that many events (4) prior to this period that marked the history of the FFSG still impact its internal functioning and the relations between the different disciplines, and tarnish its image. The federation has still not managed to turn the page from a long period of governance by the same team. (5)
The hearings conducted by the mission and the various documents it was able to collect in fact make it possible to confirm the permanent presence of former leaders of the federation, some of whom continued to maintain close relations with federal elected officials, as well as with club leaders and sportsmen. The mission had confirmation, with supporting documents, that the election of the new president, Mrs. Noury, was influenced, the person concerned, then president of the Lorient club, having been invited to run against Mrs. Péchalat (6). According to several interlocutors interviewed, this approach was clearly aimed at allowing the control of federal governance to be regained through intermediate leaders. One of the former leaders thus requested consultant status from the FFSG and, as such, demanded from the president of the federation a contract initially signed in the fall of 2022, without a vote of the executive board nor the federal council. This status was finally refused by the president in March 2023 on the grounds that she did not wish to entrust this former leader with an international representation function, particularly as part of a planned trip to Japan.
Despite the changes introduced in the federal operation by Mrs. Péchalat, between March 2020 and July 2022, and the departure of many former managers, leaders or technical executives, the FFSG has not succeeded in rebuilding an unifying federal project. The old divisions, the rivalries between clubs, between coaches, between disciplines, between former sportsmen, are all obstacles to the gathering of the "great family of ice sports". The effects of the 2020 crisis, having implicated more than twenty coaches for sexual and sexist violence, are still very present. With several major governance changes in less than three years and deep divisions, the federation is now in trouble, its workforce in technical cadres is reduced (7) and its image is very degraded. It is struggling to rebuild itself and to establish a real internal democracy with calm and transparent functioning, which it has never known.
The general inspection mission thus began in a difficult context for the new federal governance, a context which led to a very strong instability of the management team resulting from the elections of June 2022 (successions of 3 treasurers and 2 general secretaries in 11 months ). However, several events occurred during the mission that led to a significant change in position on the part of the current management team.
Investigations that quickly brought to light the existence of an omerta, resulting in particular in the disappearance of the federation's archives.
The current leadership team of the FFSG, as well as the previous one, have indicated to the mission that they do not have all the archival elements to respond to (the mission’s) communication requests. The president and general secretary of the federation thus specified to the mission that they did not know where were, for the years prior to 2020, the employment contracts of certain employees, supplier invoices, agreements with certain service providers, in particular those related to the event activity of the FFSG, the forecast budgets of the events, the agreements with the local authorities, and the supporting documents of the ticket office, including the stubs of the receipts.
According to numerous testimonies collected, the events sector was "locked" by three people linked to the former management team. The hearings made it possible to confirm that this trio only shared decisions with certain former leaders. From her election in March 2020, Mrs. Péchalat put an end to this dysfunction, with the greatest difficulties and without completely succeeding.
Following his hearing by the mission, a former manager sent the mission, on April 24, 2023, by electronic message, the employment contract of an employee, also a consultant, which the mission had not been able to find in the federal records and which the Paymaster has certified as not having in his possession.
A witness gathered by the mission claimed to have seen federal employees destroy many documents in the federation’s HQ with the help of a shredder, shortly before the end of the mandate which ended in February 2020.
The archives of the registered sports federations being considered as public archives and as such subject to the provisions relating to their conservation in the national archives, the violation of the obligations linked to their conservation is susceptible to a penal qualification, an element among others that led to the mission to make a report to the prosecutor of the Republic of Paris under article 40 of the code of penal procedure.
A federal management characterized until February 2020 by numerous failures and by very questionable practices, lacking the obligations of an registered federation and some of which are likely to receive a penal qualification.
The economic model of the FFSG is based on its own revenues linked to its licenses, but above all to its event activity (ticketing for competitions and events, one of the most famous of which is the annual tour of the French figure skating team and ice dancing) and to the revenue contributed by its sponsors (8). The FFSG is helped for more than 50% by international federations (9) and local authorities for these events, as well as by the government for the organization of European and international competitions (10).
The financial situation of the federation remains healthy, despite a cumulative deficit of €530,000 in 2020 and 2021, linked to the health crisis and the cancellation of many events. This deficit, which is a point of warning according to the mission, has been partially offset by an increase in the number of licenses and a recovery in revenue related to events in 2022, with in particular the very positive result of the figure skating world championships of Montpellier in March 2022.
The FFSG remains a small structure, with an average of less than ten employees and a maximum of twelve sports technical advisors (CTS). Governance changes accentuated in 2020, then in 2022, an already high turnover of employees and led to an increase in salary expenses. The analysis of remuneration since 2014, based on the pay diary, highlights large differences in remuneration before 2020, with two executive employees who represented almost 40% of the total annual remuneration. The mission also notes that while some employees obtained regular and significant increases in their remuneration between 2014 and 2020, others saw their remuneration remain stable.
In addition to the permanent assistance provided to the technical management of the federation, through the CTS exercising their functions within it, the government has intervened to support various specific projects carried out by the FFSG, notably the purchase of a mobile ice rink for an amount of €1,166,400 including VAT. The mission notes that this purchase, decided in the federal office on February 3, 2017, which benefited from a subsidy of €466,000 from the government (financing agreement of the former national center for the development of sport - CNDS of December 1, 2017), finally took place only in September 2019. The management and storage of this equipment was entrusted to the same company, also a sponsor of the federation, by a decision taken prior to its purchase. The call for tenders was carried out without any prior project management assistance and under the terms of a non-transparent procedure that resulted in the receipt of a single offer. The mission also notes a total lack of transparency in the methods of use of this ice rink (lack of balance sheet and imprecise nature of budgetary and accounting data) despite requests made by certain elected officials and despite the steps taken by the former president of the federation , Mrs. Péchalat, had engaged with the service provider company to obtain precise information from him.
If the mission was able to observe and document healthier management since February 2020, it noted multiple shortcomings in previous budgetary and accounting management, some of which question whether they were potentially intentional: non-compliance with the principles of transparency and publicity in the definition of services of a commercial nature even if the FFSG is not subject to the rules of public procurement; non-compliance with the principles set by its own financial regulation; opacity of relations with historical partners and service providers, without competition, for amounts that the mission deems too high and according to questionable terms in terms of commitment and supporting expenses; lack of internal control of services; lack of transparency on the choice of subcontractors, etc.
Several facts relating to the management prior to February 2020 and likely to receive a penal qualification have also been the subject of a report to the judicial authorities under article 40 of the code of penal procedure:
In parallel with the report made by the mission to the judicial authority, the mission considers that, following its work, the current leaders would be legitimate to refer the disciplinary commission of the federation so that it examines these same facts and reprehensible behavior for the licensees liable to be brought into question.
- the use of the federation’s bank card for inappropriate and sometimes unsubstantiated expenses;
- the lack of transparency in the management of certain important service and consultancy contracts with companies historically linked to the FFSG, for sometimes very high costs, through opaque interpersonal relationships with the former management and administrative team;
- the accumulation of activities of a full-time employee of the FFSG with that of president of a service provider company of the federation between January 1, 2014 and August 6, 2019;
- non-regulatory methods of remuneration of high-level sportsmen and the activities of sports agents not declared in accordance with the provisions of the sports code;
- an opaque management of ticketing for sporting events prior to 2020;
- threats and attempts at intimidation by the current leaders.
On these governance issues, the mission also reports on a non-compliant functioning of the executive bodies and administrative services with regard to the obligations of a delegated and registered sports federation, with a voiceless general assembly, a federal council that plays only partially its role, an ethics committee and disciplinary commissions still too little seized, and finally a disciplinary regulation too little applied. It describes several risky situations and formulates recommendations in order to permanently install a healthier and more ethical management, breaking with old practices.
An Olympic federation with very modest sporting results
Whether it is a question of developing the practice of sport towards specific audiences, for example people in situations of disability, of democratizing access, of reducing its environmental impact, of fighting against doping, against alcoholism or against all forms of discrimination, or even to encourage the involvement of young people in civic service, the FFSG has not up to now, in whole or in part, kept the commitments it had made in writing vis-à-vis the government (12).
These commitments must allow the FFSG, within the framework of the current governance, to make profound changes to its practices and to respect the republican commitment contract, which is now mandatory for all registered federations. These developments will go through training actions for executives, elected officials and sportsmen, whose mission advocates that they be put in place very quickly and organized over several years, with the assistance of actors whose expertise is unanimously recognized. In this regard, the report emphasizes that, on the issue of the fight against sexual and sexist violence, on educational methods and more generally on ethical issues, the FFSG has made a lot of progress since 2020 but the necessary changes in mentality and culture professional have not yet been completed. The mission has thus identified accommodation conditions for young athletes (with the coach or in host families) which remain abnormal. It also notes a worrying increase in reports of abusive training methods towards very young athletes, even though the IGÉSR report of 2020 (13) already underlined the urgency to deal with this situation as a matter of priority.
The FFSG remains in crisis today, as recent events concerning its internal life remind us (exclusion of six elected members of the executive office by a vote of the Federal Council of May 4, 2023, referral to the CNOSF for conciliation, legal complaints). The next general assembly scheduled for June 17, 2023 will meet in a context of divisions. This environment does not facilitate the achievement of the missions entrusted to the technical managers placed within the federation and who are today in great difficulty.
According to the mission, it is therefore essential that this climate cease quickly and that the objective of getting the FFSG out of the crisis situation is shared by all its members. It is about the recognition of the licensees towards their federation, starting with those of the younger generations who are totally foreign and yet indirectly victims of this situation.
Beyond the elements of management prior to 2020 which motivated the report made to the judicial authority within the framework of the provisions of article 40 of the code of criminal procedure, the mission notes that the successive governances embarked on a process of restoring order which certainly did not produce all the expected effects, but which should be underlined.
However, there are still profound transformations to be carried out within the federation, which can only be achieved in a peaceful context free from past conflicts. The report of the mission includes 34 recommendations which should contribute to this and whose implementation will be monitored precisely and over time by the Ministry of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
(1) The resigning president, with whom a contradictory procedure had been conducted by this mission, was made the recipient of this report, which was not the case for the president who succeeded him.
(2) The FFSG was audited on various subjects by the general inspection of youth and sports, then by the general inspection of education, sport and research in 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2014 and 2020.
(3) 12 visits to clubs affiliated to the FFSG in the Ile-de-France and Auvergne Rhône-Alpes regions.
(4) Salt Lake City Olympics scandal in 2002, organization in Nice in 2012 of the world figure skating and ice dancing championships, numerous internal disputes between the disciplines delegated to the federation, etc.
(5) Since the law of March 2, 2022, the limit on the number of terms of office of presidents of sports federations is three terms, except for the current term when the law comes into force.
(6) People interviewed by the mission confirmed that they had been contacted from December 2021 to present their candidacy on Ms. Noury's list, or to ensure their support or to give their proxy. A WhatsApp message circulated during the Federal General Assembly of June 22, 2023 broadcasting voting instructions in the form of a photo of an organization chart with the names of several candidates, completed by the phrase "Our candidates for the Federal Council" in caption. The hearings confirmed that discussions with the newly elected members of the Federal Council have taken place to appoint the presidents of each national sports commission (CSN).
(7) Today there are only 9 sports technical advisers placed with the FFSG for an employment ceiling set at 22 by the sports department.
(8) Operating income is on average €5 million, with an average amount of subsidies of €2.5 million, from the governement, local authorities and the ISU.
(9) Essentially that of skating (figure skating, ice dancing and speed skating) the international skating union (ISU).
(10) For the organization of the world figure skating and ice dancing championships in 2022 in Montpellier, the FFSG received a subsidy of more than 1 000 000 € from the Ministry of Sports (interministerial delegation for major sporting events).
(11) Approved by the State since 1942, the FFSG has eleven delegated disciplines (figure skating, ice dancing, synchronized skating, ballet on ice, short-track, freestyle, ice cross, luge, skeleton, bobsleigh and curling) , seven of which are Olympic. These sports are divided into five families: expression, speed, extreme, downhill and precision.
(12) Within the framework of the multi-annual agreements of objectives signed with the government, their various amendments, the development contracts and now through the federal sport project.
(13) IGESR report no. 2020-085 on the situation of the FFSG with regard to acts of sexual violence in ice sports (July 2020).
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