The former mayor of the village of Baux-de-Provence, Michel Fenard, 79, who had granted the delegation of public service, was sentenced to him for "crime of favoritism" to four months in prison suspended.
This decision is part of a legal battle with twists and turns started in 2010 by Cathédrale d'images, the company which had set up and then managed for 35 years video projection shows in these former limestone quarries where Jean Cocteau shot "Le testament d' Orpheus".
It contests the attribution of the management of the site to Culturespaces, considering that this company specialized in particular in immersive exhibitions and which has since become a world reference in its field, had at the time obtained the public contract in Baux-de-Provence thanks to anti-competitive advantages.
The court recognized in its judgment that Culturespaces had benefited from "privileged" information for the exploitation of the Carrières "by an act contrary to the rules ensuring the equality of candidates".
The company was sentenced to a fine of 100,000 euros and its CEO Bruno Monnier, 67, to a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 60,000 euros for "concealment of favoritism".
Culturespaces announced in a press release that it had appealed this decision which, according to it, "results from erroneous interpretations of the rules of law applicable at the time, as well as from the irrational hostility of the civil party".
For the former mayor, the judges underlined the "certain seriousness" of the facts "by their repeated, deliberate nature and their commission over nearly three years" and this "despite the manifest knowledge by Michel Fenard of the principles and rules applicable to public order".
Culturespaces, its CEO and the former elected representative of this commune of around 400 inhabitants of the Bouches-du-Rhône were also jointly and severally ordered to pay 551,203 euros in compensation to Cathédrale d'images.
On the other hand, Culturespaces escaped the suspended ban on applying for public contracts for two years, required in October by the prosecutor.
A sentence that could have had serious consequences for this company which developed its concept of digital exhibition in Paris, New York, South Korea, Dubai or Amsterdam.
Last winter, the Marseille administrative court of appeal put an end to the public service delegation agreement between Les Baux-de-Provence and Culturespaces.
The contract must be terminated on November 1, 2023 so that the city has time to find a new provider.
© 2023 AFP