Five blue letters. behind the name of Orpea group of retirement homes, a flourishing empire on which sat the group’s former managing director, Yves Le Masne. Sacked on Sunday, the businessman felt the tide turn. Last summer, he decided to pocket nearly 590,000 euros by selling his shares, shortly after learning about the preparation of the investigative book “The Gravediggers” according to our colleagues from Chained duck. Already chipped by a few scandals, the veneer of the multinational has been crumbling for several days. The action which quoted 107.80 euros at the time, has collapsed since the outbreak of the scandal: the title was worth around 40 euros on Tuesday afternoon, after dropping to 37.7 euros. “We are there at the heart of a system, I think”, commented, this Tuesday, on LCI Brigitte Bourguignon, Minister Delegate for Autonomy.
A system that the journalist Victor Castanet clinically describes in his book: rationing of medical supplies and food in establishments with very high prices, chronic mistreatment of residents, financial targets imposed on departments closely controlled by headquarters. In his 400-page book, he portrays a company that advocates drastic savings for maximum profitability. For its part, the group refutes these accusations as a whole. Present in some twenty countries, Orpea is one of the world’s leading players in dependency care, with a network of 1,156 establishments for vulnerable people: nursing homes, care clinics, psychiatric clinics.
Since its creation in 1989, everything seems to have succeeded at the Orpea group. Listed on the stock exchange since 2002, its turnover amounted to 3.42 billion euros in 2018. From 2004, the company turned to Europe. Insatiable, the private group swallows several structures of retirement homes in Spain, Switzerland, Germany… With its global influence, the group whose headquarters is based in Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine) has more than 65,000 employees. In addition to its international presence, the company likes to highlight its “strong values” which it proudly lists on its website: “Loyalty, Benevolence, Professionalism and Humility.” A slew of values that hides a darker reality according to the 250 testimonies brought together in “The Gravediggers”.
A society several times in the sights of justice
At the origin of this multinational “grey gold”, a man: Jean-Claude Marian. Aged 82, he sold his last shares in early 2020 and now resides in Belgium. The businessman has built a huge fortune thanks to the profits made in his retirement homes. The proof: he sold his shares for 777 million euros. The octogenarian, neuropsychiatrist by training, “weighs a good billion” estimates one of his relatives in the newspaper Release. Ranked among the 500 largest fortunes in France according to ChallengesMarian is distinguished by a luxurious lifestyle: private mansion in Brussels, collection of prestigious paintings… From the top of his silver tower, he observes the storm beating down on the former general manager of the group, replaced by Philippe Charlier.
For several days, the machine has been racing: the authorities announced on Tuesday a “vast control operation” of Orpea, with the opening of a “double investigation” administrative entrusted to the general inspections of social affairs (Igas) and finance (IGF). The group’s establishments will be subject to “unannounced checks” carried out by the State services. “I assure you that this is the first time that we have carried out an inspection” of this importance, “because we want to strike hard, because we no longer want groups to consider old age as a money pump. It’s not a commodity, “insisted Minister Brigitte Bourguignon. If Orpea could be caught red-handed, this is not the first time that justice has taken an interest in the group’s affairs.
March 2021. A search is carried out at the headquarters of Puteaux, by the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF) in the context of a preliminary investigation for complicity in tax evasion and aggravated money laundering. At the time, it was the magazine Challenges who uncovers the case. Several executives are heard by the authorities. In question: the financial package that made it possible to buy certain retirement homes on French territory. Six years earlier, in 2015, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into the practices of the private group managing clinics and retirement homes. According to MediapartOrpea is suspected of having used bogus employees to spy on its employees, in particular union representatives.
Multiple red flags
In the same era, several people warn about their practices. Also in 2015, twenty-eight families of residents of the accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) “Le Village” in Boissise-le-Roi (Seine-et-Marne) wrote to the Minister of Health of the era, Marisol Touraine. In their letter, they point to the “lack of staff” which “puts the safety of the residents at stake.” Already, serious dysfunctions are described on the side of personal care: non-distribution of drugs on several occasions or late toilets. Their mail remains unanswered by the competent authorities. Concerns that were repeated in December 2016. Staff members and families also denounce the lack of staff in the Aare retirement home, located in Schiltigheim.
In a testimony relayed by France 3 regions, a woman says for example that some residents “were changed once a day to save nappies”. Faced with these accusations of abuse, the establishment denies en bloc. Now the company is in turmoil. Whether in France or our neighbors since the scandal also has repercussions abroad. In French-speaking Belgium, the regional government of Wallonia last week ordered unannounced inspection visits to the 18 establishments managed by Orpea in the region. Out of twelve nursing homes already inspected, one was the subject of “a very worrying opinion”. The five blue letters are chipped today.