FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - 2022 Ballon d'Or - Chatelet Theatre, Paris, France - October 17, 2022 President of the French Football Federation Noel Le Graet before the awards REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) -French prosecutors on Monday said they had dropped an investigation into sexual and moral harassment allegations against former French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet.
The preliminary inquiry, opened in January 2023, was closed on Oct. 17 due to insufficient evidence, the Paris public prosecution office said in e-mailed comments.
Le Graet, 82, who had led the FFF since 2011, resigned in February but denied any wrongdoing. His departure followed a government audit that concluded he no longer had "the necessary legitimacy" to lead French soccer.
French papers L'Equipe and Le Monde first reported that the investigation into Le Graet had been dropped.
"I lived through a nightmare, but being cleared in this affair brings some comfort", Le Graet told L'Equipe in an interview published on Monday, adding that he felt anger but also relief.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Michael Perry and Hugh Lawson)
