An investigation was opened after a complaint from the Anticor associationespecially for scams and embezzlement of public fundsagainst the group of private nurseries People&Babypinned in an investigation by journalist Victor Castanetsaid the Paris prosecutor’s office on Monday, requested by AFP. In his investigative book “Les Ogres” (Flammarion), released in mid-September, the investigative journalist describes the “voracity” of certain groups of private nurseries 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, misappropriation 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.
“The inertia of public authorities”
“Faced with the inertia of public authorities, it seemed necessary to us to act.”said Paul Cassia, president of Anticor, 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.
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 embezzled money reached “2.1 million euros at least, 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%. associative crèches.
The group claims to have “begun a profound transformation”
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 book“de Victor Castanet”are totally out of step with the values we hold today“. The new management of the group claimed to have “initiated 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.
