The man in charge of the 2023 Rugby World Cup has been suspended by the French government after allegations of his “management by terror” triggered an investigation into his conduct, reports The Times.
The preliminary investigation also uncovered potential corruption and Claude Atcher’s removal as the head of the tournament’s organising committee has been supported by World Rugby.
The French sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said that the government “had to act quickly” after an official report had identified “alarming managerial practices” and “infringements of financial probity” within the body organising the World Cup. She said that Atcher would face a disciplinary procedure that could lead to his dismissal.
The government action comes a week before Atcher and Bernard Laporte, the president of French rugby, stand trial in a separate corruption case.
The original allegations of bullying were published by L’Equipe, quoting employees who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You’re a dirty little idiot,” Atcher is alleged to have told one female employee. He reportedly described another member of staff as a “poor shit.”
A third employee compared Atcher to Robespierre, the French revolutionary leader who oversaw the Great Terror in the 1790s. “Every morning we wondered who he was going to decapitate,” the employee told L’Equipe, which said that Atcher, a former rugby player, had “lost touch with reality” and come to see himself as “all powerful”.