The director of the Strasbourg IHU dismissed from his post, after a report to the PNF

High voltage at the Strasbourg IHU. The board of directors of the Strasbourg IHU dismissed its director general Benoit Gallix on Thursday against a backdrop of strong tensions, after a report made by him to the national financial prosecutor’s office (PNF), according to concordant sources. “We have decided to end the mandate that (Benoit Gallix) has as Director General of the IHU with immediate effect”, indicated the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IHU, Philippe Richert.

According to the former minister and former president of the Grand Est region, this decision was voted “unanimously, less one vote against and one abstention”. In a press release, Professor Gallix, whose term of office ran until the end of 2023, took “note of the decision of the board of directors”, referring to a “direct retaliatory measure” against the report made Monday to the PNF “on facts likely to take on various penal qualifications”.

This report, disclosed by the weekly Marianne, focuses on the financial flows between the IHU and Ircad, the Institute for research against cancers of the digestive tract in Strasbourg, directed by Pr Jacques Marescaux, who also directed the IHU until 2020 A former patient accommodation project is also affected. The PNF confirmed having received this report, without commenting further, and will decide later whether or not to open an investigation.

The dismissal procedure for Benoit Gallix had been initiated before the report to the PNF

“I drew the attention of the members of the Council to the fact that the law protects me as a whistleblower in the context of my duties, which did not seem to make them think,” indicated Professor Gallix, ensuring that he had made numerous reports internally and with the State beforehand, which had no effect. Philippe Richert, president of the IHU since the beginning of April, affirmed for his part that the dismissal procedure for Benoit Gallix had been initiated before the report to the PNF, because of a “climate of mistrust”, a “lack of total trust” and “financial problems” with “unauthorized expenses”.

For its part, Ircad intends to “seize the public prosecutor of Strasbourg with a complaint for slanderous denunciation” and evokes “an attempt” by Benoit Gallix “to want to exploit the situation to obstruct his dismissal”. Specialized in image-guided surgery for pathologies of the digestive system, the IHU of Strasbourg was founded in November 2011 by both public actors, such as the University of Strasbourg and the University Hospitals of Strasbourg, and private players, such as Ircad or the ARC foundation for cancer research.

There are six IHUs in France: three in Paris, one in Strasbourg, one in Bordeaux and one in Marseille, managed for a few more months by the controversial Didier Raoult.