The former mayor of Levallois-Perret obtains parole after five months spent at Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne) for tax fraud.
Le Monde with AFP
The Paris Court of Appeal authorized the former mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany on Thursday August 4 to go out of prison on Friday. He thus obtained parole after five months spent in Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne) for tax fraud, said at the France-Presse Robin Binsard agency, one of his lawyers. “This decision is impeccable in law, because nothing justifies the maintenance of a 73 -year -old man who has already served two -thirds of his sentence,” defended M e binsard and m E Romain Dieudonné in a joint message. The placement under electronic bracelet of the former elected official in March 2021 within his residence in Giverny (Eure) had been revoked by the courts in December, following a hundred incidents.
Aggravated whitening and illegal taking of interests
The former Baron des Hauts-de-Seine and his wife, Isabelle Balkany, had been found guilty at first instance, then on appeal, of tax fraud between 2009 and 2015. More specifically, they are accused of not Have paid for a solidarity tax on fortune (ISF) between 2010 and 2014, to have paid a reduction in 2015, as well as to have paid an income tax amply undervalued between 2009 and 2014.
After having made five months of detention for tax fraud, then having been released under electronic bracelet for health reasons in February 2020, the former elected LR had returned to prison in February due to numerous breaches of his obligations, according to Justice.
His wife had been hospitalized after having, according to her husband, made a suicide attempt. She returned to her home on June 4 while waiting for a possible summons to justice.
In addition to this conviction for tax fraud, Patrick and Isabelle Balkany were also definitively convicted, in June 2021, for aggravated money laundering and for illegal interest. Only the question of the quantum of the sentence remains unanswered, with a new trial scheduled for October.