Former boss of implant scandal firm breaks bail

THE Frenchman who sparked a global health scare by selling breast implants filled with industrial silicon has been jailed for not paying bail.

Jean-Claude Mas had been released from police custody on 27 January on bail of €100,000 (£83,000) and banned from leaving the country and from meeting former executives of his now defunct Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) company.

He faces a charge of causing bodily harm, although he is not under investigation for the graver charge of manslaughter.

A French judicial source said he had been taken into custody on Tuesday night.

The source said that Mas, 72, had not been able to make a first installment on his bail and that he had offered his flat as a guarantee but it had been refused.

However, a lawyer for the civil plaintiffs, Laurent Gaudon, said yesterday that Mas’s failure to pay bail was not about him lacking funds. “He does not want his wealth to go towards damages for victims and he deliberately chose not to pay the bail,” Mr Gaudon said.

French authorities have been criticised for being slow to react to a case that has sown fear among tens of thousands of women around the world who have had the implants.

French inspectors ordered them off the market in March 2010, due to concerns over their quality. But only in December did officials in Paris recommend their surgical removal, drawing attention to the problem for patients worldwide who have been fitted with products from the company, which was at one time the third biggest global supplier.

Lawyers for women in France who have filed complaints over PIP implants welcomed the arrest and said there should be no escaping justice for Mas.