A pro-migrant organization based in France, which is flush with tens of millions in taxpayer money, is in the midst of a scandal after its previous territorial director was accused of embezzling an incredible €12 million for his own benefit. He has already been indicted, along with other accomplices.
The association, Coallia, is specialized in registering and accommodating migrants. The man is accused of “organized fraud, embezzlement of public funds, receiving stolen goods, aggravated money laundering, as well as active and passive corruption.” He is also suspected of embezzling public funds intended for housing the “most deprived” between January 2020 and October 2024.
The suspect has not been named yet in the French media due to privacy laws.
In addition, his alleged accomplices, a 60-year-old entrepreneur and a 47-year-old business manager, were both arrested on Dec. 10 in Serris and Chennevières-sur-Marne by the financial task force group of the Val-de-Marne department of judicial police services
Authorities were already investigating the case for two years after the association itself filed a criminal complaint in 2022. The alleged embezzling operation was revealed during an audit, which revealed millions of euros in subsidies had been misappropriated
“It was Coallia that filed a complaint as part of a procedure initiated against reprehensible, even criminal, practices in order to follow up on the actions of a former employee,” the organization wrote in a press release published in November 2024. The press release came at the same time that the French Court of Auditors had singled out the NGO for its mismanagement of public money.
Notably, the man had worked providing emergency accommodation for undocumented migrants for 20 years, and he took advantage of his position in the NGO to set up a fraudulent system for his benefit, according to prosecutors. Coallia is a massive organization that employs 5,000 people throughout France and received €148 million in subsidies just in 2022.
He was arrested in Val-de-Marne. In his role, he also set up a variety of service providers which he would then bill. The issue was that he was the “de facto manager” of these various service providers, which he set up in order to make himself very rich.
“These funds were used for personal purposes or to pay invoices of Mauritanian companies,” a source told Le Parisien. Notably, the man even wrote for Le Parisien in 2020 advocating for migrants who were being accommodated in a university and for the reception of more homeless people at Orly Airport. Notably, the more homeless and migrants that were accepted into the country, the more money he would allegedly make.
However, his friends also helped him run these service providers, and they paid him commissions in order to land big contracts with Coallia.
Housing and caring for migrants is a big business across Europe, including for security companies, real estate companies, and various other actors who are receiving lucrative state contracts. Although many of these organizations act perfectly legally, they are still raking in significant profits for their services and oftentimes charge above-market rates.
