Pour le tribunal, le marché des commissaires-priseurs du Crédit municipal de Bordeaux était « verrouillé »
“Blinded by high-value loans”
Upon his arrival, the director had wanted to boost the turnover of Crédit municipal by developing a new offer of so-called high value-added pawnbrokers (PSGHV). Far removed from the traditional activity of pawnbrokers, these loans were aimed at wealthy customers by allowing them to pledge high-value objects for a minimum amount of 100,000 euros and possibly up to several million.
But this new activity, which will finally be stopped dead in 2019 by a mission from the prudential control authority (ACPR the banking policeman), was not favored by auctioneers. These ministerial officers are responsible for taking, appraising and, if necessary, selling the objects pledged to Municipal Credit. They are financially united within their regional company and their insurance is capped at 300,000 euros per claim (far below the PSGHV ceilings).
These reserves did not seem to reach Me Courau, the historical auctioneer of the Bordeaux agency of Crédit municipal, who had not hesitated to proceed to the taking of jewelry and objects related to PSGHV even outside the periods when his contract ran. But, his market having reached its end and himself affected by the age limit, he could no longer apply for his renewal. Far from separating conventional loans and high-value loans into two distinct lots, which are so dissuasive for auctioneers, Crédit municipal will add a special clause to the market giving the bank the possibility of choosing an expert to take part in the valuation of goods while eliminating all of the responsibilities of the auctioneers.
No locker registration
Unsurprisingly, the applications are not going to jostle. “Crédit municipal has blocked the call for tenders,” said the court. In fact, faced with the silence of the Bordeaux auctioneers, the Municipal Credit will fish out a Bergeracois in a negotiated procedure, despite the legal obligation to choose an auctioneer residing in the city of the establishment. He will die a few months later. An over-the-counter procedure will again designate Me Courau, bypassing this time the age limit that hit him.
For the court, the director, “blinded by his high value-added loans and absolutely wanting to achieve his ends, freed himself from the rules of public procurement to benefit the two auctioneers who can in no way be awarded the batch of the Bordeaux agency”. All “on the grounds that they were very conciliatory”, think the judges.
If the court took into account Christophe Leuret’s past as deputy director of the City of Bordeaux and his lessons given to Science Po in public finance, suggested that the rules of public procurement were familiar to him, he also observed that he had derived no personal benefit from the offence. The defendant, who today exercises the function of inspector general of sustainable development at the Ministry of Ecological Transition, benefits from an exemption from registration in the criminal record.
He has ten days to appeal.