Xavier Bertrand implicated in the Orpea scandal: “I refute everything”

The controversy of abuse in the establishments of the giant Ehpad Orpea continues. In his book Les Fossoyeurs, Victor Castanet looks back on the relations that Xavier Bertrand had when he was minister in charge of dependency (2007-2009) with the leaders of the Orpea group. The journalist affirms that the member of the Republicans and the giant of the nursing homes had a privileged relationship. Invited in the morning of Europe 1 this Tuesday, Xavier Bertrand reacted to these assertions against Sonia Mabrouk.

“I refute everything en bloc,” said the President of the Hauts-de-France regional council, who denied having “privileged ties” with Orpea. “You could say that I also had privileged ties with the companies that installed the MRIs, the scanners, because I issued a lot of authorizations by implementing Jacques Chirac’s cancer plan”, assured Xavier Bertrand . “It was part of my missions.”

Xavier Bertrand deplores the “failing controls”

Xavier Bertrand assured that he had worked “in compliance with the rules that were set” with the groups Korian, Orpea, etc. The candidate for the primary on the right, defeated against Valérie Pécresse, defended the creation of a vigilance committee to fight against the abuse of the elderly: “After all these years, how is it that today, do we realize that the controls have been faulty?

The former Secretary General of the UMP concluded by highlighting the treatment given to the elderly and disabled: “We have to look things in the face. We do not take care of disabled people, elderly people well enough. And after this scandal, there must be all the necessary sanctions. But we must also ensure that we take good care of our elders.