(Updated with Orpea CEO)
PARIS, March 26 (Reuters) – The French State will file a complaint against the group of private nursing homes Orpea and will request the reimbursement of public funding which would have been used in an irregular manner, announced on Saturday the Minister in charge of Autonomy, Brigitte Burgundian.
“Not only are we filing a complaint, but we are also giving ourselves the right to request the return of public grants that have not been used towards residents as they should be,” she said on France Inter.
The Minister’s announcement comes the day after the reports of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) and the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) were submitted to the government, which report irregular financial practices.
The conclusions of the reports (…) show significant dysfunctions in the organization of the group to the detriment of the care of the residents”, writes the Ministry of Solidarity and Health in a press release.
“On the financial level, the IGAS and the IGF have brought to light presumed irregular practices, in particular the absence of accounting monitoring of surpluses on public funding and an allocation that does not comply with the regulations of expenditure to the care and dependency sections. funded by public grants,” the statement continued.
“The mission also confirms the existence of probable end-of-year discounts for suppliers presented as services and which would have the effect of artificially increasing the cost of purchases financed by public money”, adds the ministry.
In an interview published Saturday evening on the Figaro site, the CEO of the Orpea group, Philippe Charrier, takes “note” of the minister’s decision to send the report to the public prosecutor.
“This will allow us to express ourselves when the time comes, to assert our rights, to collaborate with justice,” he says. “We regret that the final report is neither made public nor made available to stakeholders. It allows us to conclude that there is no organized system at Orpea that would lead to mistreatment.”
He adds that he has “at this stage not received a request” for reimbursement of part of the public grants that Orpea would not have spent on care provided to residents.
The group was accused in the book “Les Fossoyeurs”, published at the end of January, of favoring profitability over the well-being of the elderly.
He has since said that he has commissioned audit firms to carry out external evaluation missions.
“Our nursing homes have been the subject of 150 inspections in recent weeks,” says Philippe Charrier.
(Written by Claude Chendjou and Elizabeth Pineau)