On the 7th of March, Jean-Christophe Picard, head of Anticor 06, filed a complaint for illegal interest taking against Daniel Benchimol in the “Grumpy Smurfs” affair [1]. The deputy mayor of Nice involved had then qualified this complaint as “completely fanciful.” However, a week later, Christian Estrosi hastily organized a press conference to announce that he was ending the concerned operation.
But let’s hear from Jean-Christophe Picard: “Up until now, the president of the metropolis had always been very firm with the opponents of the project: ‘In light of this, I won’t give in on anything!’ he had emphasized again on September 21, 2012. But, curiously, it took just one ‘completely fanciful’ complaint for the operation to be suddenly reconsidered. Unsurprisingly, the metropolitan council of March 29, 2013, approved this setback (Daniel Benchimol, by the way, did not take part in the vote this time).
Let’s now return to the criminal aspect of this affair… During the famous press conference, Christian Estrosi offered his full support to Daniel Benchimol. This is an important move on which he will have to explain himself in due time.
But the mayor of Nice did not only defend his deputy. He also criticized the association Anticor, accusing it of making “inappropriate comments” on this matter. According to Christian Estrosi, the 26 apartments and the house belonging to Daniel Benchimol or his wife, located at 24 rue Dabray, did not increase in value thanks to the planned urban renovation operation in the area. The argument put forward was significant: the building belonging to his deputy “has always been intended to be demolished” [2].
This is a highly fanciful assertion, not confirmed by any official document. To be convinced of this, one only needs to refer to Nice’s local urban plan (PLU). This was modified on June 29, 2012, to specifically take the urban renovation operation into account. The PLU thus added the “creation of reserved space no. 2558 for a public area, to allow for the development of a new square with a garden on Cour Bensa.” And on the plan, one can clearly see that reserved space no. 2558 miraculously spares plots numbers 236 and 396… which belong to the Benchimol couple!
It is also useful to refer to the visual provided by the metropolis in support of the project: the deputy mayor’s building—white with blue shutters—proudly stands in front of the future square.
So, in this affair, there are not only Grumpy Smurfs but also Pinocchios!
