(Bloomberg) -- The French government is filing a legal complaint against Orpea SA and wants the elderly care home operator to return millions of euros in public funds it believes were misused.

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

France will seek to get back money awarded to the company that was not properly used for the care of the elderly, she added. Those funds represent “various millions of euros,” she said.

Orpea has been embroiled in a scandal for the past two months following the publication of a book called “The Gravediggers” by investigative journalist Victor Castanet that described care home residents’ mistreatment. 

“There were flaws on the human side and the organizational side” as well as in the company’s finances, said Bourguignon. 

Orpea shares have lost almost 60% of their value since the start of the year. The first extracts of the book were published in Le Monde on Jan. 24.

The company didn’t immediately reply to an email and call requesting comment outside of normal business hours.

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