Suspicions of fraud: investigation opened into the financial management of Cosem health centers

2023-05-10 04:26:03

An investigation has been opened to shed light on the financial management of Cosem, an association bringing together around fifteen health centers and financed by public funds, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. The investigations, revealed by Radio Francewere entrusted to the Brigade for the repression of economic crime (BRDE), confirmed the prosecution.

In April, two reports were sent to the courts. A first on April 7 by the primary health insurance fund (CPAM) of Paris, which indicated that it had been alerted to a “suspicion of fraud”. Another on April 17 by elected members of the social and economic committee (CSE) of Cosem who denounced facts that could be qualified as breach of trust, illegal taking of interest, Social Security fraud and moral harassment, according to their lawyer Me Jérôme Karsenti.

“As a lawyer for whistleblowers, I am pleased that the prosecution has opened a preliminary investigation,” said Me Karsenti on Tuesday. “I hope for the employees that this investigation will be quick so that these Cosem health centers, with an ancient history, can be saved from the prevaricating practices of their leaders,” he accused.

Disproportionate expense reports

Asked after the issuance of these reports, management declined to comment, ensuring that Cosem “has always complied with all of its legal and regulatory obligations”. The Cosem “provides quality care to the poorest under the permanent control of its supervisory authorities”, she had insisted.

The non-profit health association Coordination of Social and Medical Works (Cosem), which employs 1,400 people, is financed by public funds – reimbursements from Social Security and subsidies. This structure is managed by a man, managing director since 2010, and his two sons.

“We are facing a family that has completely appropriated the walls and has created satellite companies” which draw on the finances of Cosem, said in April an elected representative of the CSE on condition of anonymity. The elected representatives of the CSE suspect the family of impoverishing the Cosem “in order to serve their private interests” and fear the consequences on jobs. They denounce the exorbitant salaries paid to the father and his sons, fictitious jobs for their wives and disproportionate expense reports – more than 285,000 euros for three people in 2021.

The Cosem, created in 1945, claims two million medical and dental consultations per year provided by 700 practitioners in about fifteen centers in Île-de-France and in the provinces, according to its website.