“The investigation report will not be public and it is worrying”, judges the nursing executive at the origin of the investigation

“The surprise is that this report will not be public and that is worrying”, declared Friday March 25 on franceinfo Laurent Garcia, nursing executive. He worked eight months at the Orpea retirement home in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in which he describes a terrible daily life. He initiated the investigation The Gravediggers, published by Fayard editions. The administrative investigation report triggered following the revelations of the book, established by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) and that of Social Affairs (Igas), will not be made public.

>> Scandal in Ehpad Orpea: a pre-investigation report overwhelms the financial management of the group

franceinfo: What do you think of this decision not to make the report public?

Lawrence Garcia: I am very surprised. I think that Orpea’s advisers asserted business secrecy, but in the face of such a scandal, this should be open to discussion. I hope the government has backtracked because it intends to file a complaint.

The preliminary report seems to confirm the savings made by the Orpea group on meals, the number of employees. Is it a surprise?

No, we expected it with Victor Castanet, it could not be otherwise. The surprise is that this report will not be public and that is worrying. The elections are coming, but we won’t give up. During these three years of investigation, we went from surprise to surprise, this public money diverted when we know the lack of means of nursing homes, the lack of staff, in fact this money exists, you just have to go get it where It is. I am counting on a lawsuit, a government complaint against Orpea.

The book “Les Fossoyeurs” is a shock wave. Did you expect that?

The day before its release, with Victor, we thought that if we sold 6,000 copies, it was a victory. We are at 250,000. We did not expect such a tidal wave but we did everything to make it happen.