A Paris prosecutor has launched an investigation into the sale of the Alberto Giacometti succession which took place at the George V hotel on July 11th 1994.
The investigation concerned the conditions in which the succession of Alberto Giacometti was managed by French lawyer Roland Dumas who is presently the target of a virulent press campaign for alleged corruption when he was minister of Foreign Affairs under president François Mitterrand. Roland Dumas, now president of the Constitutional Council, France's law-supervising main body, has been already charged on suspicion of having received money from the Elf petroleum group which tried to obtain a substantial contract with Taiwan.
Auctioneer Jacques Tajan, who conducted the Giacometti succession sale, is suspected of having falsified the sale report regarding a bronze statuette of a nude (number 6 of the sale) which was sold privately a few days afterwards to London dealer Joe Nahmad for over one million francs (US $ 170,000).
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) was one of the greatest sculptors of this century. His wife, Annette Arm-Giacometti, inherited his production and after her death the Giacometti succession soon triggered off a long-standing feud.
Roland Dumas was the executor of the succession of Annette Giacometti who died in September 1993 while Jacques Tajan had been given a mandate to make an inventory for which he received 6 million francs (US $ 1,1 million). Another 12 million francs (US $ 2,2 million) were allocated to the
notary in charge of the will. It was then decided that part of the succession would be sold to meet costs whereas the rest was destined to set up a Giacometti foundation which so far has remained a pious wish.
The July 1994 sale was much criticized by Mary Lisa Palmer, an American citizen, who was Annette's secretary and who is now in charge of the Giacometti Association. A preliminary investigation was opened after she lodged a complaint and resulted in the present justice action.
A battle has been raging between the Giacometti Association which deplored the sale of six major works by Jacques Tajan and Roland Dumas, the auctioneer and the State which took so long to decide whether a foundation should be set up.
The Ministry for Culture finally decided last spring to give a positive answer for such a project to which Jacques Tajan was fiercely opposed.
In fact the authorities' coolness regarding this project was due to a longstanding feud between the heirs of Giacometti (his brother Bruno, his nephews and Michel and Claude Arm, Annette's brothers) and Mary Lisa Palmer.
The rest of the succession, estimated between 800 millions and 1 billion francs (US $ 145 and 170 million), has been laying dormant in a Paris suburb warehouse. Meanwhile Jacques Tajan, due to the fact that auctioneers have the status of law-officers, faces the harsh prospect of being sentenced to a maximum prison term of 15 years and a fine which might go up to 1,5 million francs (US $ 270,000).
French auctioneers are not allowed by law to sell unsold lots privately contrary to a common practice abroad and at least three other of his colleagues have been guilty of breaking the rule in recent years.
In view of the indemnification of auctioneers as part of the planned reform of the profession, it seems likely that French authorities will put some pressure on all those auctioneers who have resorted to illegal private sales so as to compensate for the huge sums that will have to be paid in this package deal ashose found guilty would probably not benefit from it.
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