The one who is now honorary president of the Orpea group reacted for the first time since the publication at the end of January of the book-investigation Les Fossoyeurs, by journalist Victor Castanet, in which his management is questioned.

"There is not an Orpea system, but an Ehpad system to be improved", he admitted.

This Orpea system is however "demonstrated both in the work of Mr. Castanet and in the testimony of ex-employees", retorted the deputy (LREM) Didier Martin.

For more than an hour of hearing, Jean-Claude Marian defended before the commission "the work of a life" founded in 1989, far from "the caricature which is made of it in the book of Mr. Castanet".

The questions of the commission related to the international development of Orpea, the enrichment of the leaders and the back margins with the suppliers detailed in the book.

The honorary president recalled his departure from the general management and his abandonment of any right of inspection over Orpea in 2013, and the fact that he gave a mandate in 2019 to resell his last shares in the group listed on the stock exchange.

“Your only answer is to say that you were not informed. Are you saying that your directors were not reporting to you?”, asserted the deputy (PS) Boris Vallaud.

In response to a question, Mr. Marian also denied having offered 15 million euros to the independent journalist in return for his silence.

“Never in my life have I offered money to Victor Castanet to stop his research, and I have never mandated anyone in this perspective,” he said.

Asked four times by the deputies on the absence of a complaint against Victor Castanet in the face of the alleged untruths, Jean-Claude Marian replied "to consider" filing a complaint "in a personal capacity" for "defamation by insinuation".

The founder of the group reiterated his "apologies" to the people housed and their families who suffered ill-treatment in the Ehpad Orpea.

"We remain unsatisfied", confided the president of the commission Fadila Khattabi (LREM) at the conclusion of the hearing, considering that Jean-Claude Marian has "developed a company in which there is suffering for the residents but also from the employees.

The results of the hearings of the Social Affairs Committee are expected next week.

© 2022 AFP