A Parisian pharmacist was indicted and imprisoned in mid-December, suspected of having invoiced fictitious Covid-19 screening tests, for damages of at least several million euros for health insurance, learned the AFP Tuesday, January 18 from concordant sources.
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On December 17, this man was indicted by a Parisian investigating judge for fraud and money laundering in an organized gang and for forgery and use of forgery, then placed in pre-trial detention, confirmed a judicial source.
According to Le
Canard enchaîné
, which revealed the existence of this investigation, the investigations began after a doctor discovered that he had bought thousands of tests without his knowledge.
"Fraudulent Billing Practices"
The Primary Health Insurance Fund (CPAM), quoted in the newspaper, would have seized the Paris prosecutor's office after "
having noted fraudulent practices of invoicing to Health Insurance of orders (of antigenic tests) not delivered
" to doctors. Between September and mid-December, the pharmacist would have on the one hand overvalued his declarations of tests carried out in his pharmacy and on the other hand would have inflated the number of test kits sold to doctors, to the detriment of the CPAM.
"
Doctors told us they did not know the pharmacist
," reported a source close to the case, saying that a second pharmacist had also been heard in police custody.
"
We still have to understand the mechanism of reimbursements by the CPAM
," said the same source.
“
Carriers have been assigned.
Orders (for tests) could be delivered, others not or to other people
”.
According to Le
Canard enchaîné
, investigators from the clever crime prevention brigade of the Paris judicial police found 800,000 euros in cash in one of the pharmacies at the beginning of January.
