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French race row official rejects 'mole' accusation

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-06 08:00

PARIS - The man who taped the meeting at the center of the French soccer race row said on Wednesday that he was not responsible for leaking the recording to the media.

Mohammed Belkacemi, France's national technical advisor for neighborhood soccer, said he sent the only copy of the recording to the French Football Federation (FFF) the day after it was made.

"I explained everything to the inquiry," said Belkacemi.

"I recorded the meeting on November 8, 2010 to testify internally about unacceptable things that I had already heard before.

"I sent the only copy of the recording to the federation on November 9, 2010 to confirm my words."

The Mediapart website claimed last week that high-ranking French officials, including France coach Laurent Blanc, discussed introducing a quota to restrict the number of dual-nationality players coming through their national training programs to 30 percent.

National Technical Director (DTN) Francois Blaquart, who is responsible for youth coaching policy in France, was suspended on Saturday but said that the plan had been "abandoned".

Belkacemi has been cast as "the mole" in the French media after details of his involvement in the affair emerged, but he rejected the description.

"Since that date (Novr 9, 2010), the recording was no longer in my hands but in the possession of the federation, which has been confirmed in the hearings," he said.

"I therefore never gave the recording to a journalist. This media storm does not benefit me. I have no interest in this publicity. I have no interest in a public debate."

Belkacemi's revelation raises the possibility that the FFF knew about the existence of the recording well before it was made public by Mediapart, but FFF President Fernand Duchaussoy said that was not the case.

"Until Thursday evening, I had not at any moment been informed by anyone about the discussions that took place during the meeting on November 8, 2010 - much less about the existence of a recording," Duchaussoy said in a statement sent to AFP.

Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno subsequently spoke out in support of Duchaussoy.

"Did the FFF know? Not the FFF in the sense of all its directors, but some of its directors," she said.

"I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the president of the FFF or the vice-president (Noel Le Graet)."

Earlier on Wednesday, Mediapart and the website of the Le Parisien newspaper speculated Belkacemi had sent the recording to Andre Prevosto, who was then the joint-director general at the FFF.

Prevosto could not be contacted by AFP, while the FFF said it would not comment on the case until the outcome of its own investigation and one being conducted by France's sport ministry.

Agence France-Presse