The French government wants Europe’s largest for-profit care home operator Orpea SA to return millions of euros in public funds it believes were misused.

“The State is filing a complaint,” junior minister for elderly policy Brigitte Bourguignon said on Saturday on France Inter radio. The government has already held two probes into mistreatment at Orpea’s care homes that found “serious dysfunctions,” she added.

France will seek to get back “various millions of euros” awarded to the company that was not properly used for the care of the elderly. “There were flaws on the human side and the organizational side,” she said.

Journalist Victor Castanet’s book “Les Fossoyeurs” (“The Gravediggers”), published in January following a three-year investigation, alleged that Orpea left some patients without care for days and rationed services. The company has denied the accusations but since the start of the year, Orpea shares have lost almost 60% of their value. 

The group’s chief executive officer Yves Le Masne’s was terminated of his duties on February 1, with non-executive chairman Philippe Charrier taking over the role. 

Founded in 1989, Orpea is one of the world leaders in long-term care, with 1,156 facilities comprising 116,514 beds across 23 countries. According to Reuters, Orpea now faces possible government sanctions and customer lawsuits.

The group has announced that it has decided to immediately mandate two well-known firms to carry out an independent assessment of all the allegations.