French police chief tasked with stopping boat migrants accused of spending days playing golf
A FRENCH police chief tasked with stopping boat migrants has allegedly been bunking off work at an exclusive golf club — for 14 years.
Luc-Noël Larcher, 56, would practise on the greens “almost daily”, according to an internal investigation.
The Sun on Sunday can reveal he is a member at the £2,000-a-year Golf de Bussy-Guermantes club, 20 miles from Paris.
He has been there for around three years — but the report said he has been in “fictitious employment” since 2009.
Married dad Larcher is currently on sick leave, yet last played at the club a week ago.
It has an 18-hole course but an employee said: “He sometimes does nine. He loves golf and is a really nice guy.”
Larcher is the commander of a unit frequently deployed to the north coast to target illegal Channel crossings.
But he dodged Calais-based missions and office work so much that colleagues did not know what he looked like, the report said.
He would stay in a separate hotel from his staff when in the north and start his day at noon.
He would “possibly” carry out “some administrative tasks” — but “devotes almost all of his afternoons to playing golf or swimming in the pool”.
The report, by the Central Directorate of the CRS, said Larcher would often drive home in his police car, claiming £6,755 for 28,366 miles between January 2022 and February this year.
He also claimed for “fictitious” overtime, plus 52 rest days while he was at home.
He is even said to have had police meals delivered by one of the force’s refrigerated lorries for his son’s engagement party.
When he did show up to work, Larcher lacked “technical expertise”.
But “devoted, subservient” colleagues helped him get away with it until a deputy finally had enough.
Prosecutors have opened a preliminary probe over “suspected abuse of public funds and violation of professional secrets”.
Larcher’s representatives said he denies the claims and had been suffering from “burnout”.