An investigation was opened after a complaint from the Anticor association, in particular for fraud and misappropriation of public funds, against the group of private crèches People & Baby, pinned down in an investigation by journalist Victor Castanet, the public prosecutor’s office said on Monday, November 18. Paris. In his investigative book the Ogres, released mid-September, the investigative journalist describes the “voracity” of certain private nursery groups and in particular the People & Baby group.
According to the prosecution, Anticor’s complaint denounces “acts of fraud to the detriment of a public person or an organization charged with a public service mission, embezzlement of public funds, misuse of corporate assets, breach of trust, complicity in fraud tax, potentially attributable to People & Baby crèches”. The investigation was entrusted to the direction of the judicial police on November 14, according to the same source.
“Faced with the inertia of the public authorities, it seemed necessary to us to act”, Paul Cassia, president of Anticor, said during a press conference on November 12 announcing the filing of the complaint. “The starting point of this affair is the book by Victor Castanet on the management of a company which manages private crèches”, he continued.
“2.1 million euros” embezzled
The association’s lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth, detailed the different qualifications targeted by the complaint “in the particular context of these crèches which benefit (…) from public aid from the State” and the “lack of number of nursery places”. According to him, the amount of money embezzled would be “a minimum of 2.1 million euros, a figure which only concerns partial unemployment aid fraud”.
Currently, France has 460,000 collective childcare places, of which 50% are in public crèches, 27% in private crèches (Les Petits Chaperons rouge, Babilou, La Maison Bleue, People & Baby, etc.) and 23 % of association crèches. In a press release sent to AFP in mid-September, People & Baby – whose founder and president Christophe Durieux was ousted from his post in the spring – indicated that “the practices described in the work” by Victor Castanet “are totally out of step with the values we hold today”.
The new management of the group claimed to have “began a profound transformation” with a new president and promised to correct “without delay” All “malfunction that could be identified”. “Independent audits” will be put in place and “we are committed to reporting transparently on the actions implemented and their monitoring”, added People & Baby.
Source: www.liberation.fr
