Guillaume Pepy, former CEO of the SNCF, “will be proposed to chair the new board of directors” of Orpea, said Sunday evening the private group of retirement homes, in turmoil since the publication in early 2022 of the book investigation “The Gravediggers”.
“A profound renewal of the board of directors will be proposed at the next general meeting”, with the arrival of five new independent directors, including Guillaume Pepy, specifies Orpea in a press release. If elected, he “will be proposed” to chair the new board.
A general meeting on July 28
The appointments as independent directors of Guillaume Pepy, currently Chairman of Initiative France, Isabelle Calvez, Director of Human Resources for the Veolia Group, John Glen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BIC SA until May and David Hale, Chief Executive Officer of Guerbet Group, will be submitted to the vote of the shareholders at the general meeting on July 28.
Laurent Guillot, who has spent a large part of his career at Saint-Gobain and CEO of Orpea since Friday, will also be proposed as a new director at this general meeting, adds Orpea.
Philippe Charrier, who chaired the board of directors before the scandal broke and who “provisionally assumed the general management of Orpea from February to June 2022, “chose to put an end to his mandate as director at the ‘outcome of the next meeting’.
Several investigations opened
The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office has launched several investigations into the Orpea group in recent months. A first relating to suspicions of “forgery and use of forgery”, and “breach of labor legislation by abusively resorting to fixed-term contracts”, had been opened in February Following a report from the government, it was extended to suspicions of embezzlement of public funds and institutional mistreatment.
Investigators are digging into more than forty complaints, the majority of which were filed collectively in early April by families of nursing home residents, who accuse Orpea of ”endangering the lives of others” and ” manslaughter “. The Parisian lawyer Sarah Saldmann filed at the start of the Nanterre judicial court 80 individual complaints in around thirty Ehpad d’Orpea.
“These dramas all tell the same sordid reality, notes Sarah Saldmann. These families are generally thrilled when they place their loved one, aged 85 on average, in an institution. The housing stock is attractive, for example. The rates are high, from 2,500 euros to 12,000 euros per month, which could suggest quality care. But the situation is deteriorating extremely quickly. Photos before after boarders send shivers down their spines. »
Orpea shares have tumbled since “Les Fossoyeurs” and the ensuing scandal, dropping from 86 euros at the end of January to around 22 euros at the end of June.