French breast implant boss jailed

Lawyers acting for many of the French victims of the PIP breast implant scandal said they were not surprised the former company chief has been jailed for not paying his bail.

Jean-Claude Mas, who set off a global health scare after selling implants made of low-grade silicone, failed to pay the 100,000 euro bond and is now being held in a Marseille prison.

“He doesn’t want his property investments to be used to compensate his victims. So that’s why he’s deliberately chosen not to pay his bail,” said lawyer Laurent Gaudon.

“He’s taken a risky bet of not paying this money, which was supposed to go to these women, and that’s why he finds himself in jail. It was the next logical step.”

The 72-year-old Frenchman has been charged with causing bodily harm, after more than half a million women around the world had the implants from the company PIP fitted.

Mas has admitted the firm used cheap, industrial silicone, which was not approved for medical use. French inspectors ordered them off the market in 2010 and the company went bust.

Experts fear the breast implants could rupture and leak. Health authorities in many countries have recommended that women have them removed, although some experts say the risk has been exaggerated.

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