They promised a good nest egg thanks to the resale of electricity. Except that the small wind turbines of France Eoliennes almost never worked. And again, when their happy owners were able to receive them.
From 2006 to 2009, the company France Éoliennes sold wind by selling domestic wind turbines to 590 individuals across the country, 200 of whom were civil parties.
After seven years of investigations, the trial of this company from Fay-aux-Loges (Loiret) was held in 2018 before the High Court of Orleans. After their conviction, three guilty parties had appealed, including the former president of this company, Frédéric Benedite, 59 years old.
Last Tuesday, the Court of Appeal of Orleans confirmed its guilt, in this case a “deception on the substantial qualities of the goods, abuse of social good, and swindle”. But she eased the sanctions, reducing her prison sentence from 2 years to one year. In addition, he was sentenced to 15 years' ban on running a business and a € 100,000 fine.
Some wind turbines were never delivered, others never worked
Mr. Benedite, who will spend his year in prison wearing an electronic bracelet, is ordered to pay € 3.1 million to the civil parties as compensation. This amount is also lower than at first instance, since the damages amounted to 4.8 million.
"For the moment, the victims have not touched a single euro, while some have lost up to € 60,000," laments Me Kierzkowski-Chatal, who will seize a guarantee fund to obtain an advance.
Between 2006 and 2009, the equipment made in China was imported by the company "Shop Discount" which Cyrille Aumont directed. Despite the deposit, some wind turbines have never been delivered or have never worked. Still others had 3000 watts of power instead of the 5,000 listed on the order form.
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During the hearing in December 2019, Frédéric Benedite had blamed his employees for these malfunctions.
Pursued for deception on the goods, the importer Cyrille Aumont was released. The judges estimated that it did not intervene "neither in the device of marketing of the machines, nor in that of their assembly and their installation at the customers".
Frédéric Benedite's brother-in-law, Jean-Marc Ollivier was given a six-month suspended prison sentence. He had tried to continue this lucrative activity through another company, Wind Electric, while the Fay-aux-Loges company, whose liabilities reached five million euros, had been liquidated in 2009.
The victims' legal battle is not over. Mr Benedite has appealed to the Court of Cassation.
For his part, Me Emmanuel Kierzkowski-Chatal warns of opportunists who take public aid to sell the dream. "It is to be feared unfortunately this case will duplicate in the coming years with the insulation at 1 euro", he fears.
