• Opened in 2003, Averroès is the first Muslim high school under contract of association with the French State. The institution suffers from a "critical financial" situation, according to the regional chamber of accounts of Hauts-de-France.
  • In addition, according to the CRC report, in the second year program, the institution proposes a work contrary to French republican values.
  • 20 Minutes takes stock while the Averroès association was offended by the disclosure of the report, which must only be made public at the end of the ongoing adversarial procedure.

Opened in 2003, Averroès became, in 2008, the first Muslim high school under contract of association with the French State. While it now welcomes 800 students, the school, already pointed out for its links with Islamic fundamentalism, suffers from a "critical financial" situation according to the regional chamber of accounts (CRC) of Hauts-de-France. In its recent report, this CRC also pins a book on the menu of the second year program. 20 Minutes takes stock of this still confidential report, obtained by AFP after Le Figaro published extracts.

Why did the regional chamber of accounts issue a report?

The private high school under contract Averroès of Lille is this week the subject of revelations of the Figaro on irregularities in the financial management of the establishment, pointed out by the regional chamber of accounts (CRC) of Hauts-de-France. This river report, which Le Figaro published this Tuesday some extracts stems from concerns and suspicions about the fragile and erratic treasury of the school.

At the beginning of this month of May, the leaders of the nearby mosque of Villeneuve-d'Ascq would, according to Le Figaro, have been placed in custody, in particular because of a fraudulent loan granted by the Islamic center to the Averroes high school. Their lawyer told Le Figaro that the loan, part of which was never repaid, was intended to replenish thanks to donations from the faithful the coffers of a high school "abandoned" by the Region. In 2024, an official of the association managing the mosque of Villeneuve-d'Ascq will be tried for "illegal exercise of the profession of banker".

And in 2020, the regional majority led by the LR boss of the region, Xavier Bertrand had seized the Ministry of Education of the file after the publication of the book Qatar Papers. The authors, Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, reported "foreign funding" of this Lille establishment. In the aftermath, the school confirmed that it had received a donation from a Qatari non-governmental fund, stressing that it was not illegal. Faced with the dispute, the nebula and the mistakes, the regional chamber of accounts of Hauts-de-France has therefore examined in detail the management of the high school since 2010.

What does the report say about the financial situation of the school?

The CNR report notes the "close proximity" maintained since its inception between the Averroës Association and the Union of Islamic Organizations of France as well as insufficient renewal of the members of its board of directors. The Chamber warns of the deterioration of the financial situation, considered "critical" in a context of "accelerated development", after the drying up since 2016 of donations from abroad. The latter amounted to 1.9 million euros, including some 943,000 euros from the NGO Qatar Charity, out of a total of nearly six million euros received by the association between 2010 and 2022.

"From the 2015-2016 financial year, funds from abroad became residual and then zero", but the institution remains very dependent on private donations, note the rapporteurs, for whom the monitoring of individual loans must be "reliable" and the identity of donors clarified. Thus, in this still confidential report, the Chamber stresses that the institution, which obtains almost every year the 100% success rate in the Bac, has built "a real academic excellence", but issues a series of recommendations in terms of governance and for a review of the economic model. According to the report and our colleagues in Le Figaro, "the growth in the number of students has been accompanied by an uncontrolled management of the finances of the Averroès association". For the magistrates, "the analysis of the association's balance sheets testifies to an investment policy that is difficult to sustain, and debt management without a long-term strategy".

Why does the CRC evoke a breach of republican values?

The House report that strangles the Muslim establishment also mentions an optional course with Salafist content. This course of "Muslim ethics" is on the program of second with, as support, a book laying down rules to follow. Among others: the prohibition, on pain of death, of apostasy (denial of the Christian faith) or the pre-eminence of divine law. The values of the Avorroès high school, which advocates openness to all, can be questioned, explains the authors of the report.

And to add: the presence of this book "is likely to raise questions about the compatibility of its content with the republican values of which the establishment also claims. ". In short, the magistrates suspect a "discrepancy" between the republican values advocated by the management of the establishment and the education provided. This Thursday, Le Point recalls that last December, the former Brotherhood Mohamed Louizi said he was "scandalized" by the practices of the private Muslim establishment. "They are taught the laws of Muhammad and not the laws of the Republic," wrote the essayist in a note entitled Muslim ethics in a nest of vipers – Analysis of the Islamist curriculum of the Averroes High School.

What are the reactions of the school and the Region?

In a statement, the management of the Averroes High School was offended by the disclosure of the report, which was to be made public only at the end of the ongoing adversarial procedure. She is nevertheless pleased that the investigation of the magistrates "clears the association of any suspicion of irregular foreign funding", while the region regularly blocks since 2019 the payment of the clerkship fee due to the establishment in the name of "suspicions".

Regarding the book pointed out by the Chamber, the president of the Averroës association explained that these passages were not among those studied in class.

Our file on the "separatism" law

For his part, Xavier Taquet, director of Xavier Bertrand's cabinet, responded by saying that the report went "in the direction" of the Region. A Region that still hopes to be able to block the next planned payment and ensures that in case of new litigation, the report will be "taken into account" by the administrative justice. Still, so far and each time, the regional council, the main institutional financier of the establishment before the State, has finally had to release these funds, disavowed by the justice. Thus, last October, the Region was asked to pay more than 500,000 euros in subsidies to the private Muslim high school. A round sum blocked at the beginning of October.

  • Society
  • Lille
  • North
  • Hauts-de-France
  • Nord-Pas-de-Calais
  • High school
  • Association
  • Finance
  • Report