PLAY on words notwithstanding, Tours remains a magnificent mediaeval city picturesquely situated in centre-west France, between rivers Loire and Cher, and now much visited by growing numbers of tourists.

As long as he could remember, Jean Germain who was born and grew up in Tours, had only one passion: how to make his native town a most comfortable place for its citizens and do everything possible to add to its historical and contemporary charms.

He thought it was important to learn jurisprudence in order to be more effective with his ambitious projects. So he completed law studies before plunging wholeheartedly into local politics.

Carefully avoiding temptations to get into national spotlight, he concentrated exclusively on Tours, becoming its mayor in 1995 at age forty-eight. His first task was to revive an old, abandoned transport system, the tramway line, then considered outdated by many — and an example that has been followed since by a number of European cities, including Paris.

Jean Germain’s numerous other daring ideas soon turned his birthplace, otherwise little known on international scale, into one of the top touristic attractions of the world; he would be re-elected many times mayor of Tours.

But then every story has a tragic, or comic, end and we wouldn’t be talking about Jean Germain had it not been so. His fall would begin in 2007 when, noticing that visitors to Tours now included more and more Chinese tourists, he offered the job of interpreter to Lise Han who was born in Taiwan but was now a French citizen; she spoke both Chinese and French languages fluently.

Lise Han however had her own ideas of tourism promotion. “A lot of youthful, newly-rich Chinese couples, recently married at home, would love to be married again, this time French style, complete with black suits and bow ties; white dresses, champaign glasses and rose bouquets in hand,” she told Jean Germain.

The mayor fell for the suggestion. Soon enough, multiple rites were organised; first as fake religious ceremonies with Tour’s cathedral in the background, then in the city hall as wedding receptions. Photographs were published in newspapers and magazines; TV networks aired them live. As word spread in China, more and more romantic couples arrived in Tours and Jean Germain was thrilled to be photographed with them, again and again and again.

A great gimmick to upgrade tourism in Tours? Not really! By 2011 someone discovered that Lise Han was running her own secret tourist agency and charging the Chinese couples heavy fees at source for the services to be rendered later when they arrived in France. Unbeknownst to Jean Germain, his Chinese interpreter was becoming a millionaire, at her own unhurried pace.

Rumours gradually began to filter in, first among the city hall employees, then among the public and then, finally and inevitably, in the media. Judicial authorities eventually ordered an investigation.

The legal probe having reached its conclusion by late October 2013, the mayor of Tours was informed by the officials that he and Lise Han were being charged with “fraud and embezzlement of public funds”. When the trial was supposed to open at the Tours high court three weeks ago, on April 7 to be exact, Jean Germain was reported missing.

His body was discovered a few hours later in his hunting lodge, not far from his residence. He had shot himself, leaving behind a suicide note: “I have never defrauded the city for a single cent, nor made myself rich. And I have always worked for what I believed was in the best interest of the people of Tours.”

The news shocked the entire country and President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of losing a great citizen and a man who loved Tours.

For the moment, the “Marriage, French style” case remains suspended.

The writer is a journalist based in Paris.

ZafMasud@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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