BALKANY. Friday August 5, 2022, Patrick Balkany was released from prison. Back at his home in Giverny, what now awaits the former mayor of Levallois-Perret? We take stock.
[Mis à jour le 5 août 2022 à 11h22] patrick Balkany is out of jail! Friday August 5, 2022, the former mayor of Levallois-Perret was able to return to his home in Giverny. Long hair, he appeared tired in front of television cameras. At the microphone of CNews, Patrick Balkany recounted the difficulty he encountered in detention: “I was isolated. I did not meet a detainee for six months and it was very hard. It was hell. I have to learn to walk again.” From now on, he will take time for himself: “I am relieved to be able to rest, take care of myself and take care of my wife”, he said on BFM TV. The journalists present on the spot report that his first action as a free man will be to go to the hairdresser…
The day before, Thursday August 4, the Paris Court of Appeal decided to release the former first city councilor of Levallois-Perret. The news was welcomed by his lawyers: “This decision is irreproachable in law, because there is no justification for the continued detention of a 73-year-old man who has already served two thirds of his sentence”, they explained. with the AFP. The former mayor of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) was therefore able to leave Fleury-Merogis prison (Essonne) after being imprisoned again in February 2022. This is the second release obtained by the former -edile after his conviction for laundering tax fraud.
Patrick Balkany had already been released on parole in February 2021. He had been placed on an electronic bracelet for a year but due to an apparent non-compliance with the conditions of his release, his bracelet having rung many times. , justice had thus announced his return to the prison box. At the end of May 2022, he had obtained a new release, granted by the Evry sentence enforcement court, but the public prosecutor’s office of the same city had appealed, in view of a weak enthusiasm of the former politician to reimburse its debt of 4 million euros to the State, an amount corresponding to the amount not paid in taxes between 2010 and 2015 in respect of wealth tax, as well as an overpayment in respect of the income tax between 2009 and 2014. In May, he had only reimbursed 7,000 euros.
Although he was released by the courts, Patrick Balkany remains convicted. His sentence runs until April 21, 2023. The Court of Appeal explained that the former mayor of Levallois was released due to his state of health. “On the eve of his 74th birthday, [Patrick Balkany] presents several pathologies noted by expertise”, she detailed to justify her decision, recalling the “extremely low risk of recurrence”. However, Patrick Balkany will have to scrupulously respect his commitments. In the event of non-compliance, he will have to go through the prison box, and this until the end of his sentence. Moreover, the Court of Appeal recalled in its judgment that Patrick Balkany must still “repair (…) the damage caused by the offense, (…) obtain the prior authorization of the sentence enforcement judge for any travel abroad”.
Patrick Balkany and his wife were convicted of failing to pay wealth tax between 2010 and 2015 and of understating their income tax between 2009 and 2014. Patrick Balkany was imprisoned on February 7, 2022 after his conviction for tax evasion. Before that, he had already been in prison between September 2019 and February 2020. He had been able to leave in view of his state of health.
His wife, Isabelle Balkany, had not been imprisoned after a suicide attempt on February 3, 2022. For several years, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany had been placed under an electronic bracelet. The former mayor of Levallois-Perret and his ex-first deputy had been sentenced, in September 2019, for tax evasion, to three years in prison and ten years of ineligibility. The revocation of the placement under an electronic bracelet had been requested because of a hundred incidents, including non-compliance with exit schedules.
The placement under electronic bracelet of Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, decided in February 2021, had been revoked in February 2022 after numerous shortcomings on the part of the couple. Justice blamed them for several, with a “hundred of incidents”. In a judgment, the Rouen Court of Appeal pointed out that the spouses “never accepted the constraints inherent in home detention under electronic surveillance”. In addition, she underlines that Patrick and Isabelle Balkany had, with regard to the staff of the prison administration or the sentence enforcement judge, “[une] attitude and [des] vehement or ironic remarks, sometimes outrageous, even outrageous”. The decision to revoke the house arrest was pronounced on February 3, 2022. It implied, in fact, the incarceration of the two spouses. However, only Patrick Balkany entered the Fleury-Mérogis prison, Isabelle Balkany having attempted suicide when the decision was announced.
The couple’s tax fraud case was studied in two stages. The Balkany spouses have yet to know their sentence for “tax evasion laundering”. They were found guilty of having concealed, between 2007 and 2014, around 13 million euros in tax assets, including two villas in the Caribbean and Morocco. The trial for this second part of the case has been postponed to October 25, 2022. In addition to this conviction for tax evasion, Patrick Balkany was indicted in February 2021 for abuse of corporate assets, embezzlement of public funds and taking illegal interest. He is suspected of having made office buildings available to his son-in-law, without payment of rent. In December 2021, his indictment for embezzlement of public funds was also confirmed in the “drivers” case for which he is accused of having used municipal agents as private drivers.