The Paris prosecutor's office announced on Monday November 18 the opening of an investigation against the group of private crèches People & Baby, after the anti-corruption association Anticor had filed a complaint in particular for various scams and for embezzlement of public funds. The group had been pinned down in an investigation by journalist Victor Castanet: released in mid-September, the book investigates The Ogres (Flammarion) described the “voracity” of certain groups of private crèches and in particular of People & Baby.
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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, according to the same source.
“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.
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“At least” 2.1 million euros embezzled, according to Anticor
The association's lawyer, Me Vincent Brengarth, detailed the different qualifications targeted by the complaint “in the particular context of these crèches which benefit (…) public aid from the State » and the “lack of number of places in crèches”. According to him, the amount of money embezzled would be “at least 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 in mid-September to Agence France-Presse, People & Baby – whose founder and president, Christophe Durieux, was ousted from his post in the spring – affirmed that “the practices described in the work” by Mr. Castanet “are totally out of step with the values that[ils] port[ent] Today “.
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The new management of the group announced that it had “started 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.
